I 

! 



THE 



BIBLE DOCTRINE 

OF 

PRAYER. 

y 

BY CHARLES E. SIMMONS. 



Fleming H. Revell Company, 

NEW YORK : I CHICAGO : 

30 Union Square : East. | 148 and 150 Madison St 

Publishers of Evangelical Literature, 



^he Library 

of Congress 

washinqton 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1892, 
By FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY, 
the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. 



For the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot 
from being taken.— Prov. 3:26. 

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed 
on thee : because he trusteth in thee. — Isa. 26:3. 

And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, 
shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus. — 
Phil. 4:7. 

TO MY BELOVED WIFE, WHO THROUGH LONG YEARS OF 
TRIAL, HAS, ALMOST WITHOUT INTERRUPTION, ENJOYED THE 
REALIZATION OF THESE PROMISES AS THE INEXPRESSIBLY 
PRECIOUS FRUIT OF A LIFE OF PRAYER, THIS LITTLE VOLUME 
IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED BY 

THE AUTHOR. 



PREFATORY WORDS. 



Having been recently led to study the teach- 
ings of the Holy Scriptures on the subject of 
prayer, I herewith submit some things I have 
learned. 

By way of apology, I must be permitted to 
say, that although this study has occupied many 
months, yet the total time spent upon it has 
been much less than I could have wished. It 
has been much broken, because only a few 
minutes at a time could be devoted to the 
work, owing to the engrossing pursuits of a 
very busy life. One advantage, however, has 
accrued from this; it has forced me to get much 
of my understanding of Scripture from prayer- 
ful meditation, rather than from Commentaries 
and other helps. Yet I do not want it to be 
understood that I have wholly neglected the 
teachings of learned Commentators and of other 
5 



writers; on the contrary, I have made diligent 

use of such of them as I had, and owe much 

to them. Those so used are recognized author- 
ed 

ities of high standing; but I have postponed 
consulting them till after careful meditation 
on the Word. Not having knowledge of the 
Hebrew and Greek languages, my study has 
been confined to the Eno-lish text. However, 
I have sought to know how scholars under- 
stood the meaning of the original text of the 
passages I have been considering. When, 
therefore, I venture to speak of the rendering 
of any text, it is not of my own knowledge, but 
what some authority (and that not a mean one) 
says. I think that in the rendering of doubt- 
ful or obscure texts, or those about which 
scholars differ, one who has diligently and 
prayerfully studied the Word with a fair 
degree of intelligence, and has brought to bear 
upon it all the light he has obtained respecting 
the revealed character of God, may fairly be 
entitled to choose the rendering which seems 
to him to be most in harmony with the mind of 
God. This rule I have seldom found occasion 



to apply; but when such occasion has arisen, 
the choice has been made. 

The Scripture quotations in this paper are all 
from the Revised Version. 

I gratefully acknowledge the assistance of 
three very dear friends to whom the work has 
been entrusted to secure some sort of literary 
finish. As they are in no way responsible for 
anything said herein, I leave them unnamed. 

I have thought best not to encumber the 
book with foot note references to authors con- 
sulted. Of course I have adopted the views 
of many writers, but while I have not con- 
sciously copied their mode of expression, I have 
not sought to make mere verbal changes for 
the sake of avoiding a charge of plagiarism. 

S. 

Oak Park, III, February, 1892. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER. PAGE. 

Prefatory Words, 5 

I. What is Prayer? - 11 

II. Who May Pray? ----- 23 

III. Duty of Prayer, - 30 

IV. Conditions of Acoeptable Prayer, - 37 
V. Forgiveness as a Condition of Ac- 
ceptable Prayer, 50 

VI. According to the Will of God, - 60 

VII. Asking in the Name of Christ, - 84 

VIII. Of Importunate Prayer, , - 96 

Note, - 117 



r 



I. 



WHAT IS PRAYER ? 

A number of words in the original 
Hebrew and Greek Scripture are rendered 
in our English Bible, u pray, " 66 prayed," 
' 6 praying, " " prayer. ' ' Each of these 
seem to convey, in whole or in part, 
the same meaning. This meaning is, 
doubtless, in many respects, deeper and 
more complete than we are wont to attach 
to the English words < c prayer, ' 5 " pray- 
ing," etc. Underlying them all is the 
consciousness of want or need, of earnest 
desire. This desire takes the form of sup- 
plication for its fulfillment or of interces- 
sion for others. The words often imply a 
sort of pouring out, or, as it were, an 
overflowing of supplication. 

But Scripture examples and the trend of 
Biblical teaching as to prayer show 
plainly that the thought is incomplete, un- 



12 iSifile Bottxint of ^rager. 



less other elements are added, such as ador- 
ation of God, praise of His perfections and 
works, thanksgiving for His mercies and 
gifts, and confession of sins. With sup- 
plication for personal needs will also be 
mingled intercession for others. All these 
are necessary elements of prayer, but it 
does not follow that all must, or often will, 
be in any one prayer. 

Too much there is of attempt in many 
public prayers, so called, to cover the whole 
range of the elements of prayer without 
regard to time, place, or present need. 
Too little of real praying and too much of 
t ' making a prayer by elaborate phrase- 
mongering." (Wm. M. Taylor in Parables 
of Our Lord.) 

Alas, " All is not prayer which calls 
itself by that name." (Ibid 421.) The 
words of adoration are unaccompanied by 
the self-abasement needed to bring our 
minds to a proper contemplation of the 
awful majesty of a Holy God; the thanks- 
giving is rather self-congratulation like 



Mftfiat ts Stager? 



13 



that of the Pharisee in our Lord's parable; 
the confession is not followed by any 
' < turning from evil to do well, ' ' and not 
only is the suppliant unprepared for specific 
answers to his prayers, but he would be 
appalled by the receipt of such answer. 

Prayer — An earnest, zealous asking; the 
act of offering up to God adoration, con- 
fession, thanksgiving, and supplication; the 
practice of communion with God in 
devotional address, worship, and supplica- 
tion. To this we add the words of our 
Lord : £ ' The true worshippers shall wor- 
ship the Father in spirit and truth, for such 
doth the Father seek to be His worshippers." 
(John 4:23, R. V.) 

What is meant by worship " in spirit" 
and " in truth " will be considered further 
on. 

Dr. Pope has well said (Theology, p. 333), 
" Prayer is the universal way of access to 
God and blessing from Him; without it no 
other means are effectual." Now it is evi- 
dent, if we stop to think, that access to God 



is not alone by way of asking, nor are all 
the blessings to be sought such bestow- 
ments as are to be received in answer to 
supplications. The astronomer, who was 
conscious that he was thinking the thoughts 
of God when through all the night he studied 
the wonders of the starry heavens, was hav- 
ing access to God, and his thoughts were 
true prayers. To contemplate what is 
revealed to us of the character of God, to 
meditate upon His perfections, to rever- 
ently study His ways in nature, His provi- 
dential dealings with men and nations, and 
the wonderful way in which He is govern- 
ing the world in the interest of the King- 
dom He has set up therein — all these are 
prayers. 

It is not consonant with Christ's teachings 
to believe that through the long night He con- 
tinued in supplication to the Father. Much 
He had to ask for, doubtless, but He asked 
only what it was His Father's Will to give. 
Asking and answer must have been simul- 
taneous, and great stretches of time were 



not needed for the asking. How then did 
He spend the nights which, we are told, 
were all taken up in prayer ? Loving con- 
verse, sweet communion, the interchange of 
lofty thought between Him and His Father, 
vast stretches into past and future, the 
affairs of the universe he had made, and 
above all His present work and mission 
among men; surely there was enough to fill 
up those long hours when He was alone 
with God; and this was prayer. I think it 
was Matthew Henry who quaintly illustrates 
this subject by saying: "I have a friend 
and neighbor who is very wealthy, very 
wise, and vastly agreeable. He is withal of 
a most generous disposition, very obliging 
and loves me dearly. To him I resort often, 
sometimes to borrow, sometimes to ask as a 
gift what I know he is glad to bestow, now 
again for advice or instruction, but many a 
time only for a rare gossip, an entertaining 
chat." "So," he says, "in all these 
ways, and for just such ends, do I go to 
God." 



16 Qtfjt IStfile Battxint of draper. 



Doubtless supplication seems to many much 
the more important element of prayer. Our 
needs so press upon us; our helplessness 
is so apparent, the future so uncertain, that, 
to one who has come to feel that outside of 
himself and things visible there is a Power at 
once benevolent, interested in him, and pow- 
erful enough to succor, supply, comfort and 
guide him, the cry for help, guidance, and 
supply is spontaneous. 

It is much beyond my purpose to attempt 
to deal with philosophical or theological 
questions. I am writing for simple Christ- 
ians who, like myself, cherish traditional 
beliefs, and are not qualified to consider 
philosophies; but even such simple folk will 
be plagued, and hindered from accepting 
much that they are privileged to receive and 
enjoy, because of one heresy very prevalent 
in the church, viz: that the domain of 
prayer is purely spiritual. 

Theology has made its God quite different 
from the representation of Him, which one 
gathers from His word, taking it to mean 



17 



just what it says. One English divine has 
said, with a wit not quite reverential per- 
haps, that the modern theologian has " de- 
fecated the idea of God to a pure trans- 
parency." If this is an exaggeration, it 
is true that the speculations about the 
attributes of an Unconditioned Godhead, 
together with the acceptance by theologians 
of the deductions of science from the obser- 
vation of a fixed order in nature, have put 
God so far away, and so imbued Christians 
with the spirit of Naturalism, that super- 
natural interference in the realm of nature 
seems to many an impossibility. The scrip- 
ture examples of prayer for such inter- 
ference, and apparent answers thereto are 
disposed of by saying that, in the unscienti- 
fic age of the occurrence of these events, 
men knew nothing of a scientific order in 
nature, and conceived of God as constantly 
interfering with the operations of the forces 
He had set at work in the world of matter, 
etc. 

This conception would, of course, pre- 



18 W$z IStfile Bottxint of Itager. 



vent accurate examination of the facts. 
They would be reported as they seemed, 
not as they really were, because the trend of 
thought would agree with the apparent 
occurrence. Such an explanation, if ac- 
cepted, effectually disposes of all miracles, 
both of the Old and New Testament Scrip- 
tures, and leaves a few healings, and cast- 
ings out of demons (only mind cures in fact) 
as the sole residuum of real supernatural 
events in the whole record. So many of 
the leaders of religious thought in the mod- 
ern church have accepted this view that the 
whole body of Christians, with but few ex- 
ceptions, has become leavened with natural- 
ism. 

How will we take the statements of the 
record? Spurgeon, when once applied to 
for an exposition of a certain text, replied, 
"It means what it says." A vice of inter- 
pretation, very prevalent just now, is to 
" spiritualize" everything. Spurgeon gives 
the correct rule for plain readers; which 



19 



is, when the language is not obviously fig- 
urative, interpret as it reads. When figure 
is manifest, interpret by the usual rules for 
discovering the meanings of such figures. 

Can prayer change the divine purpose? 
The character of God must indeed be un- 
changeable but His character must compel 
Him (so to speak) to assume and main- 
tain an attitude toward each man determined 
by that man's condition. So far as such 
condition is dependent upon the man's free 
will, it will change as his will changes 
without reference to God's will; and His 
attitude must undergo a corresponding 
change. His purpose, which is ever one 
of perfect benevolence, remains unchanged, 
and in obedience to the "law of the end," 
all intervening events will be shaped to ful- 
fil that purpose. 

The objection arising from the fore- 
knowledge of God is met by the considera- 
tion that, if He does foreknow all events, 
He must, also, know of the need for change 



20 STf)e IStble Bottunt of Stager. 



of attitude, so that the change itself is fore- 
seen and purposed. 

Or, as Dr. Delitzsch puts it, (Biblical 
Psychology translated by Wallis, Edin- 
burgh, 1885), " Scripture acknowledges a 
supra-mundane God, exalted above the world 
which began in time, who from everlasting 
willed the world, and in creative effectua- 
tion of this will, realized the world in time; 
a God whose eternal omniscience compre- 
hends not alone that which is general, 
but also that which is most special of this 
world, thus eternally willed and temporally 
to be made actual; and not alone surveyed 
all possibilities arising out of the use of 
freedom by the personal beings to be 
created, but moreover, looked through the 
future realization of this free-being, even 
into its most individual and secret nature; a 
God who, in virtue of this all-comprehend- 
ing and all-penetrating knowledge, exercis- 
ing that formative power over the mundane 
relations which appertained to Him, without 



21 



qualifying the freedom of the creature, 
moulded this eternally willed future world 
into a whole, issuing forth for the triumph 
of His love comprehended into a unity in 
Christ (Eph. 1:10) the everlasting Son pre- 
pared for incarnation." 

" What then shall we say to these things ? 
If God is for us who is against us? He 
that spared not his own son, but delivered 
him up for us all, how shall he not also 
with him freely give us all things? (Rom. 
8:31, 32, R. V.) 

In view of the many assurances of the 
Father's care for our temporal needs, and 
that He knoweth that we have need of all 
these things before we ask, we are taught 
that anxious thought about them is evidence 
of a distrust of his love (cf Matt. 6:19-34). 
Take to heart the positive promise that if 
we are making the kingdom of God and His 
righteousness the first objects of our seek- 
ing, all these (temporal) things will be 
added; then if conscious that you are mak- 



22 Cf)e IStfile Bottxint of Meager. 



ing the things and interests of the kingdom 
your first care and the prime objects of 
your pursuit, can you doubt that your 
prayer for daily bread will be granted and 
that all your needs, both spiritual and tem- 
poral, will be met with ample supply ? 



II. 

WHO MAY PRAY % 

Are there essential limitations to the right 
of prayer? The answer to this must ob- 
viously be in the affirmative, notwithstand- 
ing the apparent positiveness of certain 
promises and assurances of the Word, of 
which more hereafter. 

Two misconceptions need to be guarded 
against here: (1) That God will listen only 
to the cry for mercy from the sinner; (2) 
A bald and slavish literalism, which takes 
the positive promises that have been re- 
ferred to, as unconditioned, save upon ac- 
ceptance or belief. That there are other 
essential conditions mainly resting in the 
character of the suppliant will be shown 
hereafter. 

As to the prayers of those who are not of 
the household of faith we must believe that 
every faintest aspiration Godward, every cry 



24 Cfje i3tt)Ie HBoctrine of Itaget* 



to Him for help, even though inarticulate, 
will be received at Heaven's gate, will reach 
God's ear and heart, and will be responded 
to with mercies and blessings conferred or 
tendered. No other view is consonant with 
the revealed character of God. 

6 ' A bruised reed shall He not break, and 
the smoking flax ( ' dimly burning wick ' 
margin) shall He not quench; He shall bring 
forth judgment in truth." (Isa 42: 3, R. V.) 

What sweeter or truer application can be 
made of these words, than to apply them to 
God's treatment of any heavenly aspiration 
that may arise in the souls of His wandering 
children? The words, " This man receiveth 
sinners," with which His enemies sought to 
reproach Jesus, is His chief glory. To 
Nicodemus He said, " For God sent not the 
Son into the world to judge the world, but 
that the world should be saved through 
him." (John 3:17, R. V.) 

His mission is not now one of judgment, 
but only one of mercy. He will seek to 
save by every possible means. Will He 



TO&o J»as Irag ? 25 



not then nurse, help, strengthen and guide 
any conscious lifting of the soul God- 
ward ? The feeblest pulsation of life gives 
hope of restoration. The figures of the 
bruised reed and smoking flax are most 
significant. A reed is strong only in the 
absolute integrity of its tissue. The light, 
slender cylinder has considerable strength 
while unbroken, but split or bruise it ever 
so little, and a weaker thing could hardly 
be found. Notice the marginal reading of 
the prophetic description in Isaiah, " dimly 
burning wick" — a lamp almost gone out, 
giving forth smoke, where there should be 
light! But even these very weak things 
have some life. Let no ungentle breeze 
blow upon this bruised reed, and the pro- 
cesses of nature may heal the bruise and re- 
store the strength. Supply oil to this lamp, 
instead of quenching the expiring spark, 
and it will flame out anew. 

The human mind seems ever prone to 
misconceptions of God's character and of 
His relations to men, particularly when 



26 Cfje 3Stl)le Boctcme of Stager* 



making creeds and formulating theological 
dogmas. The occasional use by Paul of the 
word ' c adoption, 5 ' a true view of the awf ill- 
ness of sin and rebellion against a Holy 
God, and failure to give due weight to the 
revelation of the love, mercy and long- 
suffering of God, have led us to think of 
the sinner as so separated from the Father 
of us all, that he is merely an outcast, an 
alien, entitled only to come begging that his 
forfeited life may be spared. One welcomed 
and sought after, it is true, but for whom 
there is no love, no tenderness in the 
Father's heart. How different the picture 
Christ gives us in the parables of the lost 
sheep, the lost money, and the prodigal son. 
These parables must be taken as illustra- 
tive rather than symbolic: as symbols, 
or types, they will quickly break down 
against other truths of the Word; as illus- 
trations, they will be found most helpful 
to an understanding of an aspect of God's 
character, and of His attitude toward men, 
of which no conception would be possible 



fflffitf)o JBlag fcas? 



27 



without their aid. Even seeming to be for- 
getful of the many and wiser sheep, though 
in the sheepfold still needing His care, the 
Shepherd goes forth to seek the one that has 
willfully wandered, though wandering still. 
To the woman the one piece of money 
becomes supremely dear because it is lost; 
but above all, touching, tender and true is 
the story of the wandering son. He is heir 
no longer, for he has anticipated his part of 
the inheritance, and it is utterly exhausted. 
If he return, he can add nothing to the 
family store, but he is a son still. lie does 
not think so. The most he can believe of 
his father's love is that it will give him a 
servant's place, and that where once he had 
the position, privileges and honors of a son, 
he may have at least food, raiment and 
shelter in return for service. How little 
he knew of that father's heart. How that 
heart, though satisfied as to the home-keep- 
ing son by a perfect service, had all these 
years yearned with infinite tenderness after 
the unfaithful one; and when he returns he 



28 Cfje iStfile IBoctnne of Iraget. 



will not be received as a servant, but as an 
honored guest, entitled to wear the robe of 
honor, to receive the signet ring, pledge of 
the faith of the host to care for and guard 
him, and be shod as a free man. - There are 
other fine illustrations in the story to em- 
phasize and point the father's love. His 
sight strained in eager looking sees the re- 
turning wanderer 6 < afar off. 5 ' He ran 
(literally leaped) to meet him, and fervently 
embraced and kissed him (for such is the 
force of the original). 

Here anything like a parallel with the 
case of the returning sinner ceases. Our 
Elder Brother is not angry that we are re- 
ceived and honored, but rather joins in the 
hearty welcome. He not only does not be- 
grudge the entertainment provided for the 
guest, but is content, nay, glad to divide 
the inheritance with the prodigal who has 
wasted his portion, not only to make him 
co-heir with Himself in the glory, honor and 
power which is His right, but to make him 
one with Him so that the Father's approval 



S2Bf)0 Map Irafi? 29 



of His perfect service may spread over and 
be appropriated to the other. Does not this 
sufficiently explain Paul's reference to the 
right of adoption? 

Always a son, but a son who had lost his 
rights in the household, his share of the 
family wealth. Now by adoption he is 
restored to his rights and those privileges 
which he has forfeited. 



111. 



DUTY OF PRAYER. 

We find but little said by Christ by way 
of direct command or exhortation to pray. 
His example said more than words could, 
that prayer was as necessary to Him who 
sought to work His Father's will, as was 
the air He breathed; and we know that 
either His example or precept wrought in 
His immediate followers such a spirit of 
prayer that, after His departure, they, 
"with one accord, continued steadfastly in 
prayer," until the Spirit sent them out 
to preach. 

The few specific exhortations of Christ to 
this duty not only have the weight of His per- 
sonal authority, but bring out strongly one 
of the main uses of prayer. 

One of these, recorded in almost identical 
language by the three synoptists, was spoken 
to those who, having beheld His glory on 



JButp of Stager. 31 



the Mount of Transfiguration, had gone as 
far with Him as any could go into the valley 
of the shadow of death, into which His soul 
entered on the night of His betrayal. To 
them, finding their willing spirits yield- 
ing to their weak flesh, He had said: 
"What, could ye not watch with Me one 
hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not 
into temptation." (Matt. 26:40,41.) (Mark 
13:33.) (Luke 22:46.) Here two safeguards 
are set up against entering into (yielding 
to) temptation, viz: watchfulness and 
prayer, but since that is not watchfulness 
which is intermittent, and the watching and 
prayer are to go together, it follows that 
what He commands is, an habitual attitude 
of prayerf ulness. He was disappointed that 
they had permitted the weakness of their 
physical nature to bring drowsiness to their 
spirits, at a time when both love and loyalty 
demanded that they be in watchful sympathy 
with the struggle between His own flesh and 
spirit; and He foresaw and warned them 
that, as they must often engage in such 



32 Cfje tStile JBortcme of draper. 



struggle, they would inevitably yield to the 
weakness, unless they kept constant watch 
against the assaults of the enemy, and were 
prepared to meet them with a call upon God, 
their only Deliverer. Much the same thought 
is doubtless expressed in what He had said 
to the disciples on the preceding day. ' 1 But 
watch ye at every season, making supplica- 
tion, that ye may prevail to escape all these 
things that shall come to pass, and to stand 
before the Son of Man." (Luke 21:36, 
R. V.) He had been telling them of the 
last things, and warning them that the end 
would come suddenly and unexpectedly. 
" Take heed," He had said, " to yourselves, 
lest haply your hearts be overcharged with 
surfeiting, drunkenness and cares of this 
life, and that day come on you suddenly as 
a snare, for so shall it come upon all." 
(Luke 21:34-35, R. V.) It will prove a 
snare; if it find you unprepared to stand 
before the Son of Man when He, the Saviour ', 
shall stand forth the Judge; but you cannot 
be warned in advance so that you may fit 



HButg of Iragec. 33 



yourself up for this ordeal. Only one way 
of escape remains for you from the misery 
and the condemnation that shall fall upon 
all others that dwell upon the face of the 
earth, and that way will be found in constant 
watchfulness and unwearied prayerfulness. 

Further on we will see that for one con- 
summation we may, we ought, constantly to 
pray. That consummation is the coming of 
our Lord, to complete His work of setting 
up the Kingdom in righteousness. Of this 
consummation Christ was here speaking; 
and doubtless His exhortation to constant 
praying included this thought; but it must 
be understood, in the main, as referring 
to the maintenance of a spirit of watchful- 
ness against the assaults of evil, and of con- 
stant looking to God for help to resist them. 
To the same purpose, and to be understood 
in the same way, is Paul's exhortation in 1. 
Thes. 5:17, 18, R. V. "Pray without ceas- 
ing; in everything give thanks; for this 
is the will of God in Christ Jesus to you- 
ward." That is to say, it is the will of 



34 Cjje sstbie iBoctrme of Stager, 



God that, in dependence upon Christ and 
acceptance of His gifts and grace, the attitude 
of the soul should be one of constant asking, 
and asking with such confident expectation, 
that the prayer and thanks are simultaneous. 
We do not live a conscious moment in which 
we do not feel a need. It is God's will that 
we should feel that that need is met in Christ, 
and such assurance will result in the constant 
maintenance on our part, of a devotional 
spirit; at once asking, receiving, and thank- 
ing. It is with a view to last things, 6 ' the 
end," that is felt to be "at hand," that 
Peter said: " Be ye therefore of sound mind, 
and be sober unto prayer." (1. Pet. 4:7, R. 
V.) Tyndall's rendering of this text seems 
most happy: " Be ye therefore discreet and 
sober, that ye may be apt to prayers." 
While that of the Authorized Version 
fails to express the same sense. Soundness 
of mind, self-control will conduce to such 
a prayerful frame as should be in believers, 
having in view the imminence of the end. 
"This principle is to be held fast," says Cal- 



JButg of Stager, 



35 



vin, "that ever since Christ first appeared, 
nothing is left to believers but with minds 
in suspense, to be always intent upon His 
second advent," and in this condition of 
suspense it is clear that no state of mind 
is safe except one of conscious communion 
with God. 

The duty and privilege of prayer are clearly 
pointed out by Paul in writing to Timothy: 
" I exhort therefore, first of all, that suppli- 
cations, prayers, intercessions, thanksgiv- 
ings, be made for all men." "I desire 
therefore that the men pray in every place, 
lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dis- 
puting." (1. Tim. 2:1, 8, R. V.) 

And these verses are specially interesting 
in this connection; the first, because of the 
use of four words, each being a designation 
of prayer, but each having a distinct mean- 
ing, (1) Entreaties, arising out of wants, dis- 
tress, or danger; (2) Requests for spiritual 
blessings; (3) Intercession, that is earnest, 
personal pleading; (4) Thanksgiving for an- 
swers received, The second of these texts 



36 Cf)e iStfile Bottxint of Eraser* 

points to the duty, and something of the 
method of public prayer, as well as what is 
the right spirit for this exercise. Here 
again the Authorized Version is very un- 
happy in substituting < c doubting 5 ' for what 
should have been rendered < 4 debate, 5 5 or, as 
in Revised Version, " disputing. 5 5 Those 
who are to lead the congregation in prayer 
should be able to lift up holy hands, and 
not let anything of a wrathful, or dispu- 
tatious spirit enter into their utterances. It 
would hardly seem that such an exhortation 
could be necessary, yet may we not all recall 
prayers that have been harangues full of 
" wrath and debate?" 



IV. 



CONDITIONS OF ACCEPTABLE 
PRAYER. 

Notwithstanding the readiness of God to 
respond to the feeblest aspiration of the 
human soul for things divine, it is manifest 
that there must be some belief in Him and 
in His power and readiness to help, or there 
could be no such aspiration. 

Frederic Harrison has directed the keen 
shafts of his wit against the attempt to con- 
nect religious aspirations or emotions, with 
a being of whom we can only be conscious 
as existent, but as utterly unthinkable or 
unknowable. "By their fruits you shall 
know them," he says, " is true of all sorts 
of religion." 

" And what are the fruits of the Unknow- 
able but the Dead Sea apples ? Obviously 
it can teach us nothing, influence us in 



38 Cfje Affile Bottxint of Stager. 



nothing, for the absolutely incalculable and 
unintelligible can give us neither ground for 
action nor thought. Nor can it touch any 
one of our feelings, but that of wonder, 
mystery and sense of human helplessness. 
Helpless, objectless, apathetic wonder at an 
inscrutable infinity may be attractive to a 
metaphysical divine; but it does not sound 
like a working force in the world. Does the 
Evolutionist commune with the Unknowable 
in the secret silence of his chamber ? Does 
he meditate on it, saying, 6 in quietness and 
confidence shall be your strength ' ? 

u One would like to know how much of 
the Evolutionist's day is consecrated to 
seeking the Unknowable in a devout way, 
and what the religious exercises might be. 
How does the man of science approach the 
All-Nothingness ? And the microscopist? 
And the embryologist ? And the vivisec- 
tionist ! What do they learn about it ? 
What strength or comfort does it give 
them? Nothing — nothing! It is an ever- 



(ttmrtittfona of acceptable dragee* 39 

present conundrum, to be everlastingly 
given up, and perpetually to be asked of 
one's self and one's neighbors, but without 
waiting for the answer. ' 5 * * *" • * 
" A child comes up to our Evolutionist 
friend, looks up in his wise and meditative 
face, and says, ' Oh, wise and great master, 
what is religion % ' ' And he tells that child, 
< It is the presence of the Unknowable. 5 ' 
6 But what,' asks the child, < am I to believe 
about it ? ' ' Believe that you can never 
know anything about it ? ' 6 But how am I to 
learn to do my duty ? ' £ Oh ! for duty you 
must turn to the known, to moral and 
social science.' And a mother wrung with 
agony for the loss of her child, or the wife 
crushed by the death of her children's 
father, or the helpless and the oppressed, 
the poor and the needy, men, women and 
children, in sorrow, doubt and want, long- 
ing for something; to comfort them and to 
guide them, something to believe in, to hope 
for, to love and to worship — they come to our 



40 Cfje iS(6ie ISoctrine of ^raget. 

philosopher, and they say, " Your men of 
science have routed our old teachers. What 
religious faith do you give us in its place ? ' 
And the philosopher replies (his full heart 
bleeding for them), 6 Think on the Unknow- 
able.' " (Religion, Spencer-Harrison, pp. 
52-53.) 

Even without the declaration of the Word 
we would be constrained to say: " And 
without faith it is impossible to be well- 
pleasing unto Him; for he that cometh to 
God must believe that He is, and that He is 
a rewarder of them that seek after Him." 
(Heb. 11:6, R. V.) 

Obviously, emphasis must be laid on the 
last part of this text. Nothing can have 
the faintest resemblance to religion, which 
does not recognize a chain of sympathy be- 
tween man and the being whom he calls 
God. On one side at least, veneration and 
dependence, on the other side a positive in- 
fluence, and such vital potency as is possessed 
by organic beings. In other words, man can- 
not worship, pray to, or in any way come 



atontrittons of acceptable dragee. 41 

unto a being that he does not feel to be 
touched with his needs and in sympathy with 
his aspirations — in short, < ' a rewarder of 
them that seek after Him." 

Do we need a definition of faith? It 
would indeed seem absurd to define a word 
so familiar and of such common use, but 
may not our very familiarity with it render 
its meaning nebulous and uncertain? We 
are apt to think that the definition in Heb. 
11:1, R. V., " Now faith is the assurance 
of things hoped for, the proving of things 
not seen," is complete, and excludes any 
other meaning, but a little reflection will 
convince us to the contrary. Nevertheless, 
the definition is of great value both for its 
comprehensiveness and perspicuity, espe- 
cially as it appears in the margin of the R. 
V. where we have "the giving substance to " 
for " the assurance of" and " test " for 
< 6 proving. ' 5 The meaning is so clear that 
exposition seems unnecessary. 

Words in common use nearly synonymous 
with faith, such as trust and confidence, give 



42 Cf)e IStfile JBoctrme of Eraser. 



us an understanding of its Scriptural mean- 
ing. We trust (perhaps with some misgiv- 
ings) the institution to which we commit 
precious possessions, or the man to whom we 
entrust care of dear ones. So we are called 
upon to entrust to God the care of our dearest 
interests, and not with misgivings, but with 
assurance that He can and will take good 
care of them, and relieve us of the neces- 
sity of anxiety for them. 

" O ye of little faith," " Be not therefore 
anxious." (Mat. 6:31.) -'In nothing be 
anxious." (Phil. 4:6.) "Casting all your 
anxiety upon Him (God), because He careth 
for you." (1 Pet. 5:7, R. V.) 

This involves a confident expectation that 
God will meet our need. Such trust and 
confidence must have a foundation, and that 
foundation is the assent of the mind to the 
statements of God and the necessary deduc- 
tions from the revelation of His character 
on the ground of their manifestly inherent 
truthfulness; that is to say, we come in 
some way to understand somewhat of the 



(Icmtuttons of acceptable Meager* 43 



character of God. This knowledge we com- 
pare with statements said to have been made 
by His authority, as proceeding from Him. 
The agreement of the two, character and 
statement, makes the truth of the latter 
manifest and secures the assent of the mind 
thereto. 

From the assent of the mind, secured by 
this correspondence between the character 
of God and the statements of His Word, faith 
passes on to belief in the statements and 
promises of the Word resting solely and im- 
plicitly upon the accepted authority and 
veracity of that Word. It has now passed 
beyond mere mental assent and becomes trust 
and confidence. 

"The Lord shall be thy confidence, and 
shall keep thy feet from being taken. 5 ' (Prov. 
3:26) now describes the condition of one who 
has attained to this degree of faith. The 
trust and confidence, which it is the duty and 
privilege of the Christian to feel, is an 
assured rest of mind upon the veracity, integ- 
rity, justice, faithfulness and, above all, the 



love of God; such a trust and confidence as 
will lead us to put all our interests, all our 
cares, and the guidance of thoughts and con- 
duct into His hands. Is this degree of 
trust and confidence, rare though it may be, 
so great a thing to demand ? The whole 
structure of society from the family unit to 
the nation is built upon mutual trust, and 
that trust has no other foundation than con- 
fidence in man's integrity. In the common 
walks of life we are daily, hourly, indeed 
continually trusting in man for the conser- 
vation of even our vital interests, and the 
simplest of social operations cannot be car- 
ried on without such trust. 

If we conceive of God as holy and true, 
then must His integrity and veracity be abso- 
lute and perfect. Is it too much then to de- 
mand of us at least the degree of trust and 
confidence which we repose in fallible and 
imperfect men ?* 

* That a self-revelation of the character of God is essen- 
tial to such faith is manifest from the following considera- 
tions. In the present state of knowledge the evidence of a 
fixed scientific order in nature is practically irresistible. 



atcmtJttttms of acceptable ^rager* 45 



Let us pass to the consideration of a few 
texts bearing upon the faith to be exercised 
in prayer: " Let us therefore draw near 
with boldness unto the throne of grace, that 
we may receive mercy, and may find grace 
to help us in time of need." (Heb. 4:16, 
R. V. ) " In whom, (Christ Jesus our Lord, 
v. 11) we have boldness and access in confi- 
dence through our faith in him." (Eph. 
3:12, R. V.) 

These teach that our faith produces a bold- 

Whether such order proceeds from the unremitting activity of 
a supreme will, or results from an established code of natural 
laws, it is apparent that recognized phenomena do not form a 
sufficient basis whereon to predicate a belief that God, if he be 
admitted to have formed the worlds and to govern them, had 
or has a benevolent purpose therein ; if the slow and somewhat 
uncertain processes of evolution by which mankind is being 
lifted to higher physical, mental and moral conditions do 
point dimly to a being above us who "makes for righteous- 
ness," he is far too impersonal to awaken any expectation that 
his active benevolence will be exercised toward us as individ- 
uals. 

It would seem, then, that we must look to writt en revela- 
tion alone for evidence that God is moved by a benevolent 
purpose toward the individual objects of His creation. The 
history of mankind, although it discloses a manifest progress 
upward in social order, etc., would, unless studied in connec- 
tion with such written revelation, afford us no surer ground 
for such belief than do natural phenomena. The sole basis 
therefore for confidence in God as a hearer and answerer of 
prayer is in the written word of God. 



46 Cfje Affile Uoctrme of Stager* 



ness in approach to God in prayer — that is, 
that we may use a freedom born of an assur- 
ance that we will meet with a gracious 
reception, and favorable consideration; (a) 
because our Great High Priest is 4 < touched 
with the feeling of our infirmities," and 
(b) because the church (of which we are 
parts) is now commissioned to make known 
the manifold wisdom of God, as purposed 
and revealed in Jesus Christ our Lord, in whom 
"we have — access in confidence," because 
this eternal purpose has been revealed to us. 
(See context.) 

Thus we learn that the faith which is an 
essential prerequisite to effectual prayer must 
be constant, unwavering, and complete; to 
doubt is not to disbelieve, but to lean to un- 
belief, to be uncertain; now saying, < 'yes; 55 
now, u no." The figure used by James is 
striking. The wave ever advancing and re- 
ceding, never at rest, is a fit picture of the 
mind of the doubter. He is not a hypocrite, 
but is double-minded (literally " two-soul 
ed ? 55 ) one whose affections are divided between 



ffiotrtrtttcms of acceptable draper* 47 



God and the world, between faith and unbe- 
lief. Let not such a one think ' c that he 
shall receive anything of the Lord. 5 ' ' £ And 
Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily 
I say unto you, if ye have faith, and doubt 
not, ye shall not only do what is done to the 
fig tree, but even if ye shall say unto 
this mountain, be thou taken up and cast 
into the sea, it shall be done. And all 
things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, 
believing, ye shall receive." (Matt. 21:21, 
22, R. V.) " Therefore I say unto you, all 
things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, be- 
lieve that ye have received them, and ye 
shall have them." (Mark 11:24, R. V.) 

The incident with which these verses are 
connected, was used by our Lord to point to 
the possibility of most extraordinary achieve- 
ments of faith; (see context) and the texts 
themselves, particularly the one from Mark, 
suggest what must seem to many believers 
a most advanced stand in faith, namely, the 
acceptance by faith of the thing asked for, 
simultaneously with the asking. The atti- 



48 Cf)e tSfoU JBoctrme of Stager, 



tacle of the believer seems to be this: Rely- 
ing upon the assurance that " Your Father 
knoweth what things ye have need of before 
ye ask him"; (Matt. 6:8) and believing 
that prayer is but the act of acceptance, he 
does accept in the act of asking, and reckons 
that, (without visible sign,) as accomplished, 
which he has sought. 

These several considerations teach us what 
elements of faith are required as the basis of 
accepted prayer; (a) belief in the existence 
of God, and that He is possessed of conscious- 
ness, intelligence and will; (b) belief that 
this God stands to us in the relationship of a 
father to his children; is conscious of our 
need, sympathizes with us because of that 
need, and is both able and willing to respond 
to it; (c) belief that He has appointed prayer 
as the means of access to Him; that He has 
given gracious assurances that He will hear 
and answer; that He has promised cer- 
tain gifts and graces to be received through 
asking, and has inspired in us a trust 
and confidence that leads us to commit all 



©ontuttons of acceptable ^rager* 49 



our wishes to the determination of His infinite 
wisdom and love; (d) a confiding and affec- 
tionate belief in the person and work of 
Christ as the revelation of the character and 
will of God, through whom our character is 
transformed, and His will wrought in us; 
(e) this faith has in it boldness, or freedom 
of approach, expectation, confidence, and, 
finally, a triumphant acceptance upon the 
authority of God's Word alone. May He 
grant to us all that we may attain thereunto. 



V. 



FORGIVENESS AS A CONDITION OF 
ACCEPTABLE PRAYER. 

If the establishment and maintenance of a 
relation of sonship to God, is the basis upon 
which rests our expectation of answer to 
prayer for all needed blessings, how im- 
portant that we should know of everything 
likely to prevent that consummation. Sin 
is what separates us from God. Sin can be 
removed by Him alone, and only in answer 
to our prayer for forgiveness. That our 
Lord has named, with peculiar emphasis, 
one thing to be done by him who prays for 
forgiveness, and has named it as a condition 
indispensable to forgiveness, is a sufficient 
intimation that this condition should be 
carefully considered. 

In that discourse which has not inaptly 
been called the < < Inaugural address of the 



acceptable Uraget. 51 



Kingdom of Heaven," we find our Lord 
putting into the mouth of his disciples the 
petition. " And forgive us our debts, as 
we also have forgiven our debtors." (Matt. 
6:12.) It is significant also that the only 
other form of prayer He has left us, that of 
Luke 11, has a plea in substance identical 
with that of Matt. 6:12. Notice that He fol- 
lows the form of prayer of Matt. 6 with 
an amplification of this point and no other. 

" For if ye forgive men their trespasses, 
your Heavenly Father will also forgive you, 
but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, 
neither will your Father forgive your tres- 
passes." (Matt. 6:14, 15, R. V.) 

Let us first consider why this condition 
needed to be so much emphasized, and then 
endeavor to get its full import. 

The history of our race teaches us that 
one of the strongest of human passions is 
the desire for revenge. The great poet 
recognized this when he wrote, " To err is 
human, to forgive divine;" as if he had 



52 CJje $Stile Bmtint of $ragct. 



said, u so impossible is it for a human being 
to truly forgive an. injury, that the power 
and willingness to forgive must be recog- 
nized as a faculty exclusively divine." 
Doubtless the experience of each one of us 
confirms this view. Not that an unregen- 
erate man has never forgiven, but that the 
tendency to remain unforgiving, and to seek 
revenge, is almost irresistible. So insid- 
ious, too, is the tendency that many Christ- 
ians who cherish strong animosities are 
either unconscious of it, or justify them- 
selves, and quiet their consciences, by in- 
genious sophistries. 

Before proceeding to an exposition of the 
passages before cited I will group them with 
the other statements of our Lord on this 
subject, and add various cognate texts. 

< £ And forgive us our debts, as we also 
have forgiven our debtors." (Matt. 6:12, 
R. V.) 

" For if ye forgive men their trespasses, 
your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 
but if ye forgive not men their tres- 



acceptable draper* 



53 



passes, neither will your Father forgive 
your trespasses." (Matt. 6:14, 15, R. V.) 

"And forgive us our sins; for we our- 
selves also forgive every one that is indebt- 
ed to us." (Luke 11:4, R. V.) 

' < And whensoever ye stand praying, for- 
give, if ye have aught against any one, that 
your Father also which is in heaven may 
forgive you your tresspasses." (Mark 11: 
25, R. V.) 

" Thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all 
that debt because thou besoughtest me: 
Shouldest not thou also have had mercy on 
thy fellow- servant, even as I had mercy on 
thee? And his Lord was wroth, and de- 
livered him to the tormentors, till he should 
pay all that was due. So shall also my 
heavenly Father do unto you, if ye forgive 
not every one his brother from your hearts." 
(Matt. 18:32-35, R. V.) 

u But love your enemies, and do them 
good, and lend, never despairing; and your 
reward shall be great, and ye shall be sons 
of the Most High: For He is kind toward 



54 Ctje ISftile Boctrine of Stager. 



the unthankful and evil. Be ye merciful, 
even as your Father is merciful. And 
judge not, and ye shall not be judged: And 
condemn not, and ye shall not be con- 
demned: release, and ye shall be released: 
give, and it shall be given unto you; good 
measure, pressed down, shaken together 
running over, shall they give into your 
bosom. For with what measure ye mete it 
shall be measured to you again." (Luke 
6:35-38, R. V.) 

< ' And be ye kind one to another, tender 
hearted, forgiving each other, even as God 
also in Christ forgave you." (Eph. 4:32, 
R. V.) 

" Forbearing one another, and forgiving 
each other, if any man have a complaint 
against any; even as the Lord forgave you, 
so also do ye." (Col. 3:13, R. V.) 

Now, let us look at the meaning of the 
word < f forgive. ' ' The standard New Testa- 
ment word for "forgive" and the one em- 
ployed in all of these passages (except Luke, 
36;37, correctly rendered "release" in R. 



V.) has the meaning to send away or dismiss. 
From this comes the meaning to remit and 
remission as applied to^sms. It is literally a 
remission as of a fine, a making void as 
of an obligation, a waiver as of a debt. Now 
it is evident that our Lord sees in sin both a 
wrong to be righted and an obligation to be 
remitted. The law demands a service of 
unbroken and unqualified fidelity. The de- 
nial of that service entails a debt and, of 
course, a debt that could not be met by the 
debtor. We have the exact picture of this 
condition in the parable of the unmerci- 
ful upper servant, the concluding words 
of which have been quoted above. (Matt. 
18:35-38.) 

God's forgiveness removes the blame of 
the wrong-doing, and waives the debt. 

It is true that God's forgiveness must be 
sought as the servant of the king in the 
parable besought his master for mercy. It 
is also true that sincere repentance is a con- 
dition of forgiveness, but these are not the 
truths I seek to point out here. It is the 



56 tSi'file Bottxint of Stager* 



spirit that moves God to forgive and His 
attitude towards the rebellious to which I 
wish to direct attention. 

In the closing verses of the fifth chapter 
of Matthew and in Luke 6:35, cited supra, 
this attitude of God is clearly revealed, 
as well as in many other passages, " That ye 
may be sons of your Father which is in 
Heaven. ' 5 Christ says, ' < Love your enemies 
and pray for them that persecute you." 
(Matt. 5:44-45, K.V.) « Ye therefore shall 
be perfect, as your heavenly Father is per- 
fect." (v. 48.) " For He (the Most High) 
is kind toward the unthankful and evil." 
(Luke 6:35, R. V.) 

It is clearly revealed that God's attitude 
toward the sinner is one of constant love, 
unremitting kindness, and active benevolence. 

That he who would seek forgiveness from 
God must be possessed of the same spirit 
toward his enemies, is as clearly taught. 
It is not enough, as some fondly imagine, 
that we do not seek to do harm, or even 
wish no harm to our enemies; rather the 



rule is, " But if thine enemy hunger, feed 
him; if he thirst, give him to drink: for in 
so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his 
head. Be not overcome of evil, but over- 
come evil with good." (Rom. 12:20-21, 
R. V.) 

Let not this be misunderstood, however, 
as it may easily be. If even unconsciously 
we cherish a feeling of ill-will toward our 
enemy, we shall be apt to explain this text, 
with the context, as teaching that the sure way 
tobe avenged on that enemy is, by acts of kind- 
ness to intensify his sin against us, so that he 
may subject himself to severer divine punish- 
ment, or, in the words of Augustine, i ' thou 
wilt prepare for him the glowing shame 
of penitence." Both these views are op- 
posed to the last verse; and the true inter- 
pretation seems to lie in the quaint gloss of 
Tyndall : < < This means that thou shalt kindle 
him and make him to love." 

We further note that in the true rendering 
of the Lord's Prayer, as recorded in Mat- 
thew, the suppliant speaks of his own act in 



58 Cf)e iSftle IBoctrme of Irager. 



the past tense, "As we also have forgiven," 
and in Luke he speaks of this act of forgive- 
ness as constituting a reason for expecting 
forgiveness: " For we ourselves also for- 
give. ' 5 This forgiveness must also be wholly 
sincere and complete, as coming ' c from your 
hearts." (Matt. 18:35.) 

As in God's remission of sins, we also 
must " send away," " dismiss," " remit," 
the debts and obligations due to us from the 
forgiven; and it may well be that this is 
the hardest thing to do. 

Take the case of a brother in the Church 
who has become alienated from us, who 
cherishes ill-will, or at least hard feelings 
toward us. He avoids us; omits those kind- 
ly greetings which we were accustomed 
to receive from him ; thinks and speaks un- 
charitably about us; hinders our work for 
good by opposition, criticism, etc. We 
will suppose that this conduct is wholly un- 
justifiable; that all has been done, that can 
be, to reconcile our brother, but without 
avail. How shall we feel toward him ? 



acceptable Stager* 59 



This misconduct of our brother should 
not cause the least rising of wrath in our 
hearts, and we should, in thought, feeling 
and conduct, tender to him complete remis- 
sion of all debts and obligations created by, 
or arising out of, his conduct and attitude 
toward us (see Luke 6:37, 38 supra). 

Lastly, let us note on this point Paul's 
exhortation to his Ephesian and Colossian 
brethren. (Eph. 4:32; Col. 3:13.) 

Our forgiveness should be patterned after 
that of our Lord. In its spirit it should be 
kind, tender-hearted and forbearing. 



VI. 



ACCORDING TO THE WILL OF 
GOD. 

" The right of prayer is obviously limited 
* * * to such gifts as God is understood 
to be willing to bestow. (Editorial S. S. 
Times, Feb. 9th, '89. ) We have already 
seen that the faith which makes prayer ac- 
ceptable embraces a loving trust and con- 
fidence that will refer all wants about which 
there is no clear revelation of God's will to 
the determination of His wisdom and love. 
We should have no expectation that our 
prayers will be answered, if we are not will- 
ing to submit to such determination. In- 
finite love could not grant that which would 
injure the suppliant, or would hinder God's 
gracious work in the world. Christ's words 
on the night of His arrest are very instruct- 
ive on this point. 

" Or thinkest thou that I cannot beseech 



according to tf)e fflSfttU of ©oK 61 



my Father and He shall even now send me 
more than twelve legions of angels ? How 
then should the scriptures be fulfilled, that 
thus it must be?" (Matt. 26:53, 54, R.V.) 

He knew His Father's will perfectly, and 
the Father could trust Him so far not to 
thwart that will, that Jesus felt the full as- 
surance that, had He asked even this, it 
would have been granted; but since His 
Father's will and His own were in per- 
fect harmony, He could not ask it. It is 
well not to attempt to penetrate too far into 
the awful mysteries of the Garden of Geth- 
semene; but even at the risk of seeming 
presumptious I venture upon some sugges- 
tions respecting the agony and the prayer 
of Jesus in the Garden. First, let us recall 
His own very plain and explicit statement, 
that His life was at His own absolute dis- 
posal. " Therefore doth the Father love 
me, because I lay down my life, that I may 
take it again. No one taketh it away from 
me, but I lay it down of myself. I have 
power to lay it down, and I have power to 



take it again. This commandment received 
I from my Father" (John 10:17, 18, R.V.); 
and also the previously cited text, wherein 
He declares that at His request the Father 
would send Him all succor needed to deliver 
Him from His enemies; but also note what 
He says in this connection about the Father's 
love for Him because of the voluntary sur- 
render of His life in obedience to the Father's 
command. So sure is He that the surrender 
will be made, the command obeyed, that 
He uses the present tense, speaking of it as 
a thing then accomplished. The word here 
rendered, " power," also means " right," (as 
in John 1:12) and may have been used by 
Him in the double sense. At any rate the 
meaning is clear. His surrender of life, 
although in obedience to a command, was 
absolutely voluntary. But we are else- 
where taught that this obedience was special 
and peculiar, and was something which He 
u learned" through one of the processes of 
His mediatorial work. £ £ Who in the days 
of his flesh, having offered up prayers and 



accortung to tf)e 5123(11 of fficft, 63 



supplications with strong crying and tears 
unto him that was able to save him from 
death, and having been heard for his godly 
fear, though he was a Son, yet learned 
obedience by the things which he suffered. 
(Heb. 5:7, 8, R. V.) 

While these words describe the whole life 
of Jesus they have special reference to His 
final agony, and thus serve as a commentary 
on the prayer in the garden. The logi- 
cal arrangement of this Epistle has often 
been remarked. The Author aims to show 
the fundamental oneness of the dispensa- 
tions, and how the later one was a com- 
pletion and fulfillment of the former; and so 
he sets forth the Son as the Revealer of 
God; as greater than other messengers of 
God; as the representative Man made King 
over men; and lastly as the Great High 
Priest to make reconciliation for sin. This 
High Priest has entered into the holiest 
place, having made a full and final atone- 
ment for the sins of the whole world, and 
now stands as Intercessor. That He may 



be fully qualified for this office, it is essen : 
tial that He ' £ should be touched with the 
feeling of our infirmities." Then can He 
be equitable, because He has been tempted 
according to the likeness there is between 
us, and that without sin; hence He knows 
what power of resistance there is in us, and 
what measure of help we need. 

But there is a point at which the type 
that was in the old priesthood breaks down. 
In the line of the Aaronic high priest each 
had to make atonement for himself as well 
as for the people, for he was sinful. The 
high priest under the law could be in full 
sympathy with sinful men, because beset 
with the same infirmities. The Great High 
Priest was " without sin;" how then can He 
be in full sympathy with sinful men? With 
sinless infirmities He can sympathize, for 
He was a true man, and under the burden 
of these; but that He may be able to sympa- 
thize with the sinful infirmities, He must in 
some way, which must ever remain a mystery 
to us, be placed in such relationship to God 



accortftna to ti>t Mil of GKotu 65 



as a sinful man is in. Then He could, 
indeed He must, offer up prayers and sup- 
plications with strong crying and tears, that 
He might be raised out of death to become 
the Eternal High Priest. He feared, not a 
fear of terror, but the fear of reverence and 
devoted submission. His greatest desire 
was, then as always, to do His Father's 
will; but He knew that a dread hour was 
approaching in which it was to seem that 
God had forsaken Him, and left Him to 
the support of His own unaided powers. 
Would He in that hour continue His love 
to man and His trust in God ? Might not 
some spasmodic revolt of His human nature 
now tried to the utmost, frustrate His 
whole work ? For complete assurance that 
His strength would be sufficient, His victory 
complete, and that His work for sinful man 
would be accepted as thorough and final, 
He prayed with an earnestness that could 
brook no denial. And the Father heard 
Him, not by saving Him from that hour, 
but by giving the assurance He needed, and 



66 Cf)e 23tble Botttint of Itager. 



the strength to bear all. Thus He learned 
by utter self-abnegation a special and pecu- 
liar obedience, and could shortly exclaim 
" It is finished." 

That a petition for something which it is 
God's will to give will be granted is so self- 
evident that a superficial consideration leads 
us to wonder why the apostle wrote: u And 
this is the boldness which we have toward 
him, that if we ask anything according 
to his will, he heareth us: And if we know 
that he heareth us whatsoever we ask, we 
know that we have the petitions which we 
have asked of him." (1 John 5:14, 15, R. 
V.) But a careful study of the passage 
brings out some lessons well worth our 
while to learn. " Boldness " as we have it 
in the R. V., is " confidence " in the Author- 
ized, and neither word brings out the full 
meaning, which is " freedom of speech" 
(literally " free-spokenness v ). Now let us 
consider the preceding context, noting espe- 
cially verse 13: " These things have I writ- 
ten unto you that ye may know that ye 



accortrmg to fyt ffl2ft HI of ffioti. 



67 



have eternal life, even unto you that believe 
on the name of the Son of God." (1 John 
5:13, R. V.) 

The declared purpose of the writer of 
this epistle is to bring joy to the hearts 
of his brethren, and to make that joy full, 
or complete (chap. 1:4); and to that end 
he sets forth many grounds of assurance 
(chap. 1:7, 2:3, 5:6, 10:29, 3:14,21,22, 
4:7,13, &c), and many tests by which we 
may know whether we have eternal life. 

That we may have this assurance as a 
direct communication from God, is doubt- 
less God's will; and it is also His will that 
we should possess all those graces and gifts 
by which this assurance may be tested, ex- 
amined, and compared, and which the apos- 
tle has laid before us as the grounds of our 
confidence. These are things expressly 
promised, or necessarily implied, in the plan 
and purpose for our complete salvation, 
which is so clearly revealed in His Word. 
This consideration naturally begets in us a 
freedom of speech in asking what we know 



68 £f)c i3tt)ie Buttint of Iragct. 



God is glad to hear. If it is His will that 
we have certain gifts because they are for 
our good and tend to promote the fulfill- 
ment of His gracious purpose toward us, of 
course He will gladly hear us ask for them. 
The asking proves that our wills are in 
harmony with His in this matter, hence we 
are ready for the bestowment of these gifts. 
All the essential conditions are thus ful- 
filled, and we u have " before the result 
itself; and we know that the result is not a 
coincidence merely, or brought about by 
the operation of the fixed laws of a natural 
order, but is obtained through prayer. Like 
the mother of Samuel, we may now w T ear a 
joyful countenance (1 Sam. 1:18), although 
the actual manifestation may be delayed. 

The Lord has in His word revealed to us 
His will in many points respecting our 
attainments and privileges. These attain- 
ments, and the enjoyment of these privileges, 
are commonly dependent upon our asking 
for them. Why this is so we need not stop 
to inquire. It should be quite enough for 



according to tije Willi of m*. 69 



us, that not only is the teaching of the Word 
clear on this point, but it is corroborated by 
our experience. " Ye have not, because ye 
ask not" (Jas. 4:2), has doubtless been 
proved true by every Christian, even by 
those of most exalted attainments. The 
number and variety of the points upon 
which the will of God is clearly revealed, is 
many times greater than is commonly sup- 
posed. They are to be found in command, 
in promise, in exhortation, in examples of 
asking, in examples of receiving, in thanks- 
giving for mercies enjoyed, in lamenta- 
tion for blessings rejected and lost. No 
doubt the prayerful student will find new 
ones constantly unfolding as new flowers 
open in field or garden to welcome each 
rising sun. But after all, there will ever 
remain the border land of question and 
doubt, where man's ignorance, fallibility, 
and infirmity meet the Spirit of truth and 
wisdom. Here the loving, trusting child 
exchanges " boldness " and confidence, for 
sweet resignation to the Father's will; look- 



70 Cfje Btfile Bocttint of Stager. 



ing not now to the fulfillment of a specific 
promise, but restful in the assurance of 
God's love and tenderness. The suppliant 
may even in such cases make known his 
wish, but he leaves the decision with God. 
Lest, however, we should fall into a state of 
indolent passivity, we ought to carefully 
consider what the Word teaches as to the 
extent to which we are to be left in the dark 
as to God's will, concerning any matter 
about which we may pray. Naturally our 
thought turns to Paul's declaration of (a) 
our infirmity in this regard, and (b) the way 
of escape therefrom. 

' c And in like manner the Spirit also 
helpeth our infirmity: for we know not how 
to pray as we ought: but the Spirit himself 
maketh intercession for us with groanings 
which cannot be uttered; and he that search- 
eth the hearts knoweth what is the mind 
of the Spirit, because he maketh interces- 
sion for the saints according to the will of 
God." (Rom. 8:26, 27, R. V.) Also see 
Jude 20, Eph, 6:18, 



according to tf)e Mil of (So*. 71 



We have in this passage one of those 
rapid and abrupt transitions in thought, so 
characteristic of Paul; but it is evident from 
the opening words that there was in his 
mind a connection with what preceded. 
He was writing of the sufferings and priva- 
tions which were the lot of the believer in 
this life, and of the anticipation of glory 
which made these sufferings not only endur- 
able but desirable. How naturally did his 
mind pass to the thought of the wonderful 
things which God was willing, nay anxious, 
to bestow upon His children for the asking; 
and how the infirmity inherent in this 
earthly life stood in the way of their asking, 
because it prevented a clear discernment of 
these privileges. But as the Spirit had 
implanted in his breast that hope which 
sustained him in patient waiting for the 
completion of his redemption, so " in like 
manner" would the Spirit reveal what 
glorious gifts God had to bestow even now, 
that he might ask and receive them, or 
would himself ask for their bestowal. 



72 Cfje mUt Buttiim of leaser. 



It will be admitted that we should be very 
careful about resting the determination of 
any great question concerning our spiritual 
life, its duties, and privileges upon isolated 
texts. 

There has always been too great a 
tendency to support doctrines with proof 
texts, and to put into such texts meanings 
which their relation to their context does 
not warrant. In view of this tendency, I 
approach with caution a class of most strik- 
ing passages relating to the conditions upon 
which answers to specific prayer seem to be 
absolutely assured. 

I have confidently affirmed that God hears 
and answers the feeblest heavenward aspira- 
tions of the wandering and rebellious child; 
but some words of caution or explanation 
should be added, lest this statement be mis- 
understood. These feeble askings may be 
prompted by comparatively low motives, by 
a desire to escape from present evil, or from 
a sense of punishment deserved and dreaded, 



saccortimg to tfje 2159(11 of ©otr, 73 



but they must be honest. There must be a 
recognition of spiritual need, and a looking 
toward a spiritual God for supply of that 
need. The making of prayers is not a 
prayer, but is only the pretence or mockery 
of prayer. Such prayer-making is only 
heard, that it may add to the weight of con- 
demnation resting on the guilty soul. 

" They which devour widows' houses and 
for a pretense make long prayers; these 
shall receive greater condemnation." (Mark 
12:40, R. V.) 

Nor are the self-righteous heard, for their 
prayers are rather self-gratulations at what 
they conceive themselves to be. 

£ < And he spake also this parable unto 
certain which trusted in themselves that 
they were righteous, and set all others at 
nought: Two men went up into the temple 
to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a 
publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed 
thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that 
I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, 



74 dje 13tble JBortrtne of ^rager. 



unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 
I fast twice in the week; I give tithes of all 
that I get. But the publican, standing afar 
off, would not lift up so much as his eyes 
unto heaven, but smote his breast saying, 
God, be merciful to me a sinner. I say 
unto you, this man went down to his house 
justified rather than the other: for everyone 
that exalteth himself shall be humbled; but 
he that humbleth himself shall be exault- 
ed." (Luke 18:9-14, R, V.) 

No, what God requires as the funda- 
mental condition of acceptable prayer is a 
spiritual worship and an honest worship. 

< < But the hour cometh, and now is, when 
the true worshippers shall worship the 
Father in spirit and truth: for such doth the 
the Father seek to be his worshippers.*' 
(John 4 : 23, R. V.) 

But He also requires even of His believing 
children that the things sought shall not 
minister to the gratification of inordinate 
affections (lusts) or gratifications of self m 
any form. 



according to tfje 5129(11 of <®oK 75 



"Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask 
amiss, that ye may spend it in your pleas- 
ures." (Jas. 4:3, R. V.) 

Suppose that any one seeks an exalted 
state of grace only, or chiefly, that he may 
enjoy it, is not that an asking " amiss," 
that he may spend it in his pleasure ? in the 
selfish and exclusive enjoyment of that 
which is designed to fit him to lead others 
to possess that to which he has attained ? 

That some may be deceived through a 
false zeal and apparent success in God's 
cause into a belief that they have been 
heard and accepted is apparent from experi- 
ence, historical instances, and particularly 
from Christ's own words. 

u Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, 
Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; 
but he that doeth the will of my Father 
which is in heaven. Many will say to 
me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not 
prophesy by thy name, and by thy name 
cast out devils, and by thy name do many 
mighty works? And then will I profess 



76 W$t IStfile BMxint of Iraget. 



unto them, I never knew you: depart from 
me, ye that work iniquity." (Matt. 7:21, 
23, R. V.) 

I have presented these negatives that the 
affirmative declaration to which I have 
alluded, and which is now to be set forth, 
may be thrown into stronger light. 

I have elsewhere discussed the privilege 
or right of prayer enjoyed by those who 
have become entitled to ask in the name of 
Christ. Now I set down for consideration 
something of what the Holy Spirit has said 
respecting the assurances of answers to 
prayer, arising from personal righteousness. 
The man born blind whose eyes were opened 
by Jesus rightly understood that God would 
not, could not, confer the power to work 
such a miracle in answer to the prayer of 
' < a sinner. 5 5 He said with the utmost confi- 
dence: "We know that God heareth not 
sinners: bat if any man be a worshipper of 
God, and do his will, him he heareth." 
(John 9:31, R. V.) 

But these, you say, are not the words of 



accortfng to tf)e 829(11 of ©o*. 77 



Christ or an inspired writer. Doubtless 
it is true that God does hear the prayer 
of the righteous, but does it follow that He 
will grant what is prayed for? What is 
the inspired answer to this question ? The 
angel said to Cornelius: " Cornelius, thy 
prayer is heard, and thine alms are had 
in remembrance in the sight of God." (Acts 
10:31, R. V.) 

We know that hearing in this case was 
followed by the granting of the thing asked. 
The whole narrative shows that Cornelius 
was righteous up to the measure of light he 
enjoyed, and that he was seeking to know 
God perfectly, being also " willing to do 
His will." The truth was what he sought 
and the truth he obtained at the cost of 
Peter's long journey and to the overthrow 
of that apostle's deep-rooted prejudices. 

The citation of the following passages 
without comment seems quite sufficient to a 
clear presentation of the teaching on this 
point. Only let us note how the order 
of arrangement of these texts brings the 



78 Cfje IStfile IBoctn'ne of Stager. 



teaching to a fitting climax in Christ's own 
words: 

" For the eyes of the Lord are upon the 
righteous, and His ears unto their supplica- 
tion." (1 Pet. 3:12, R. V.) 

" The supplication of a righteous man 
availeth much in its working." (Jas. 5:16, 
R. V. ) 

6 'Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, 
we have boldness toward God; and whatso- 
ever we ask, we receive of Him, because we 
keep His commandments, and do the things 
that are pleasing in His sight." (1 John 
3:21, 22, R. V.) 

"If ye abide in me, and my words abide 
in you, ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall 
be. done unto you." (John 15:7, R. V.) 

By these words of our Lord we are shown 
how righteousness is obtainable, how obedi- 
ence becomes possible. Only through a 
vital union with Him, and only by having 
His blessed revealed will wrought in us is 
such righteousness obtainable and such obe- 
dience possible, as entitles the disciple to 



^ccortrng to tf)e ffiKJtll of Q&tib. 79 



ask whatsoever he will with the assurance 
that "it," not something else, will be done 
unto him. 

Lj Having throughout this work endeavored 
to keep within the lines of sober exposition, 
I shall now for a brief space venture 
upon what may seem a bit of very fanci- 
ful interpretation. 

We may take in their fullest literal mean- 
ing the words of Christ before cited. 

" Or thinkest thou that I cannot beseech 
my Father, and He shall even now send me 
more than twelve legions of angels ? How 
then should the scriptures be fulfilled, that 
*hus it must be?" (Matt. 26:53, 54, R. V.) 

Although such a prayer as Jesus sug- 
gests would have been answered, even to 
the entire overthrow of God's plan, yet we 
know that He could not have prayed such a 
prayer. Now let us turn to another picture 
of God's dealing with His servant. Let us 
hear Moses' own account of how God dealt 
with him. " And I besought the Lord 
at that time, saying, O Lord God, thou hast 



80 W$z ISfible Bottxint of draper. 



begun to show thy servant thy greatness, 
and thy strong hand: for what god is there 
in heaven or in earth, that can do according 
to thy works and according to thy 
mighty acts ? Let me go over, I pray 
thee, and see the good land that is be- 
yond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and 
Lebanon. But the Lord was wroth with 
me for your sakes, and hearkened not unto 
me: and the Lord said unto me, let it suffice 
thee; speak no more unto me of this matter. 
Get thee up into the top of Pisgah, and lift 
up thine eyes westward, and northward, 
and southward, and eastward, and behold 
with thine eyes: for thou shalt not go over 
this Jordan." (Deut. 3:23, 27, R. V.) 

God had been wroth with Moses for his 
impatience and arrogance, and had sentenced 
him to exclusion from the promised land. 
Moses, now restored to favor, prays that he 
may be permitted to go over, but it does 
not suit God's purposes for His people 
to reverse the sentence. His righteous 
servant pleads. God must deny, or must 



accartfafl to tfje 2Mi of (ffioK 81 

thwart His own will or must stop the 
importunity, and this last He does by 
the command: " Speak no more unto me 
of this matter;" and the righteous servant, 
apprised of his Father's will by this com- 
mand, obeys and willingly suffers God to 
bury him in the brow of the mountain 
of vision. 

Whether this incident will or will not 
bear the interpretation I have suggested, we 
may clearly reach much the same conclusion 
from a proper consideration of other pas- 
sages of Scripture. The " true unit of be- 
ing in power in this world," says Phillips 
Brooks, " is God and a man." So far 
as concerns the world of men, of their 
industries, their achievements, social order 
and government, and their individual devel- 
opment, moral and intellectual, this is cer- 
tainly true. God places in our hands the 
means to accomplish this purpose, the forces 
with which we can achieve the highest good, 
and realize the utmost possibilities of our 
being, in all departments of life. So far as 



82 Cfje milt Bocttme of Eraser. 



we come to understand these forces, and 
how they may be used, and will so use them 
as to work out the Creator's purpose, just so 
far will we succeed. Mr. Brooks has also 
said that there are three factors in a man's 
life: what he knows, what he is, and what 
he does; and that the value of the first and 
last is determined by the middle term. 
Given a knowledge of God's will, which we 
may have by the illumination of the Holy 
Spirit, and our success will be in exact pro- 
portion to the extent to which our w r ills are 
in harmony with, at one with, the will 
of God. Dean Chadwick in his exposition 
of Mark 11:20, 25, says: " And the same 
rule covers all the exigencies of life. One 
who truly relies on God, whose mind and 
will are attuned to those of the Eternal, 
cannot be selfish, or vindictive or pre- 
sumptuous. As far as we rise to the grand- 
eur of this condition, we enter into the 
omnipotence of God, and no limit need be 
imposed upon the prevalence of really and 
utterly believing prayer. The wishes that 



according to tf)e 2129(11 of <Solu 83 



ought to be refused will vanish as we attain 
that eminence, like the hoar-frost of morn- 
ing as the sun grows strong." (Gospel of 
Mark in the Expositor's Bible; Armstrong, 
N. Y., p. 306.) 

This may seem strong, but it is clearly 
warranted by those texts which we have 
been considering. 



VII. 



ASKING IN THE NAME OF CHEIST. 

< < And in that day ye shall ask me noth- 
ing. Verily, verily I say unto you, 
if ye shall ask anything of the Father, He 
will give it you in ray name. Hitherto 
have ye asked nothing in my name; ask 
and ye shall receive, that your joy may be 
fulfilled. In that day ye shall ask in my 
name: and I say not unto you, that I will 
pray the Father for you." (John 16:23, 
24, 26, R. V.) 

Cognate to these statements and promises 
is John 15:15, 16, K. V., therefore we will 
consider them together: u No longer do I 
call you servants; for the servant knoweth 
not what his Lord doeth: but I have called 
you friends; for all things that I heard 
from my Father I have made known unto 
you. Ye did not choose me, but I chose 
you, and appointed you, that ye should go 



&8{tmg fa tf)e iBtame of CH&rfet, 85 



and bear fruit, and that your fruit should 
abide: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the 
Father in my name, He may give it you." 
(See also John 14:13, 14.) 

You will recognize them at once as parts 
of our Lord's last address, recorded only by 
John, and ending with the prayer for His 
disciples and " for them also that believe on 
me through their word." (John 17:20, 
R. V.) 

It is evident that much of this whole dis- 
course must be held to relate to a time when 
the disciples should be brought into a more 
perfect relationship with Christ and the 
spirit and work of the kingdom than they 
then were. Though our last text is in the 
present tense, the first one was plainly 
spoken of a time when, after they have sor- 
rowed over His departure, they are restored 
to joy, nay brought to a greater joy, a con- 
tinuing and never-ending joy, by His re- 
turn. To the period after His resurrection 
is this assurance and promise referred, evi- 
dently to the same time when the promise 



86 Cfje 33tt)ie Bottunt of draper. 



of the Comforter was to be fulfilled; and 
since the assurance that He had made known 
(or would make known) to them all that He 
had heard from the Father was made on the 
eve of His departure, it follows that even 
this must find its greater fulfillment in that 
aftertime, when the Holy Spirit should 
abide in them and be in them (John 14:17), 
and should take of Christ's and declare it 
unto them (John 16:14.) 

In other words, these assurances were de- 
pendent for their fulfillment upon the dis- 
ciples attaining to such relationship with 
the Father and through the Spirit, that they 
were entitled to ask " in His name." 

What is it so to ask ? Probably many 
have a very vague idea; have scarcely given 
a thought to its meaning, and that very 
many treat it as a sort of formula of con- 
juration. Indeed, do we not all rather think 
of the form of words as something to call 
up supernatural aid ? We may be helped 
to discern the full meaning of the exhorta- 
tion to ask " in His name" by the consider- 



aaftfng tn tf)e i&ame of Otijrfet. 87 



ation of a passage in Colossians (chap. 
3:17, R. V.) 

"And whatsoever ye do, in word or in 
deed, do all in the name of the Lord 
Jesus." 

Note carefully the connection. Paul ex- 
horts his Colossian brethren to mortify their 
members; that is, put down certain fleshly 
inclinations that led to the commission of 
sin; then to put on holy affections brought 
to perfection in an all-embracing and su- 
preme love. To this they were to add in an 
ever-ascending scale the rule of Christ's 
peace in their hearts and the wisdom which 
comes from a knowledge of His word, 
and to these he adds: " And whatsoever 
ye do, in word or in deed, do all in the 
name of the Lord Jesus." That is to say, 
these holy affections, this supreme love, this 
abiding peace, and this heavenly wisdom 
will entitle you to act and speak as Christ's 
representatives; " in His name." The 
writs of the courts of Great Britain run in 
the Queen's name; those of this country in 



the name of the people. It is the Queen of 
England, the People of the State of Illinois 
or of the United States that command, not 
the petty magistrate who signs the writ. 

But this right to speak, do, and ask in 
His name, this right of representation, rests 
not upon appointment but upon relation- 
ship. The steps by which this relationship 
is attained, its nature, its culmination, and 
its completeness, we would do well to con- 
sider as set forth in God's Word. 

First, we have the promise that this re- 
lationship shall be established. 

" And it shall come to pass that, in 
the place where it was said unto them, Ye 
are not my people, it shall be said unto 
them, Ye are the sons of the living God." 
(Hos. 1:10, R. V.) 

His people had wandered so far from 
Him, that He had been constrained to de- 
clare that He had cast them off, and that 
they were no longer His; but the time would 
come, not alone of restoration but of a lift- 
ing up to a more perfect sonship. 



aatu'ng In ti)e Jtame of ©ftrtet. 89 



" But as many as received Him, to them 
gave He the right to become children of 
God, even to them that believe on His 
name: which were born, not of blood, nor of 
the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, 
but of God." (John 1:12, 13, R. V.) 

In this text we see the conditions upon 
which God will establish this relationship; 
reception or acceptance and belief " on His 
name." Here the word " name " stands, as 
it does in all these passages we are consid- 
ering, for substantial power and authority, 
so we might paraphrase the text thus: To 
them who believe that God has the power 
and authority to make them His sons, and 
who accept His power and authority to do 
so upon them would be conferred sonship 
as a matter of right. We see also here that 
this relationship is to be established from the 
root up, as it were. He who is to have this 
sonship is to receive it as a birthright, and 
is from the very beginning of his spiritual 
life to know God as his Father. 

" For as many as are led by the Spirit of 



90 Cf)e tStfile motttim of draper. 



God, these are sons of God. For ye re- 
ceived not the spirit of bondage again unto 
fear; but ye received the spirit of adoption, 
whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit 
himself beareth witness with our spirit, that 
we are children of God: and if children, 
then heirs; heirs of God and joint-heirs with 
Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, 
that we may be also glorified with Him," 
(Rom. 8:14-17, R. V.) 

6 ' But I say that so long as the heir is a 
child, he differeth nothing from a bond- 
servant, though he is lord of all; but is un- 
der guardians and stewards until the term 
appointed of the father. So we also, when 
we were children, were held in bondage 
under the rudiments of the world: but when 
the fulness of the time came, God sent 
forth his Son, born of a woman, born under 
the law, that He might redeem them which 
were under the law, that we might receive 
the adoption of sons. And because ye are 
sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son 
into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. So 



&sfcmg in tf)t iEame nf Otfjtfet- 91 



that thou art no longer a bond-servant, but 
a son; and if a son, then an heir through 
God." (Gal. 4:1, 7, R. V.) 

' 6 But when the kindness of God our 
Saviour, and His love toward man, appeared, 
not by works done in righteousness, which 
w r e did ourselves, but according to His mercy 
He saved us, through the washing of regen- 
eration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, 
which He poured out upon us richly, through 
Jesus Christ our Saviour; that, being justi- 
fied by His grace, we might be made heirs 
according to the hope of eternal life." 
(Titus 3:4, 7, R. V.) 

' < Behold what manner of love the Father 
hath bestowed upon us, that we should be 
called children of God: and such we are. 
For this cause the world knoweth us not, be- 
cause it knew Him not. Beloved, now are 
we children of God, and it is not yet made 
manifest what we shall be." (1 John 
3:1, 2, R. V.) 

Curious and interesting as are the verses 
last cited, it is outside my present purpose 



92 W§t IStfcle Bottxint at Stager. 



to attempt a complete exegesis of them. It 
might be well, however, in passing to enter 
a caveat against the extreme view of the 
meaning of " adoption." The word is used 
by Paul alone, and by him only five times. 
From the variation in the context it is clear 
that he does not attach a very exact meaning 
to the word; for instance, in Rom. 8:23, he 
speaks of the resurrection as our "adop- 
tion, to-wit, the redemption of our body." 
Certainly he can have no reference to any- 
thing analogous to the legal right of adop- 
tion. In Rom. 9:4 " adoption " is spoken 
of as one of the possessions of his " kinsmen 
after the flesh." Surely all they had was 
by birthright. In Eph. 1:15 the meaning 
is doubtless much the same as in our texts. 
In these Paul does not mean to say that we, 
when we were sinners, were shut out of the 
Father heart of God, but rather that we had 
voluntarily submitted ourselves to a bondage 
to Satan and sin, and that when we return 
it is fitting that we should first take the - 
place of a servant. Thus the prodigal 



&0femg in tfje iBtame of dtjrfet 93 



sought only a servant's place. He counted 
confidently on obtaining that, not doubting 
that enough of the father's love was left to 
give it to him, but being willing thus to 
humble himself, and having that much of 
faith, he found the father's love, oh, so 
much greater than he could have conceived 
of, and knowing now that the father's heart 
had been grieving over him during all the 
years of his wandering, the spirit in him 
would indeed cry out: " Abba, Father!" 
father ! father ! much more than father. 

Now, then, is the new relationship not a 
mere legal one in which there may be, nay 
are, differences, rebellions, all sorts of un- 
filial feelings and conduct, but one in which 
through regeneration and renewing by the 
Spirit of His one perfect and true Son, we 
have the spirit of sons, and have become so 
like Him that the world no longer knoweth 
us, " because it knew him not." 

But even this is not enough. John, after 
declaring "now are we children of God," 
adds, " and it is not yet made manifest 



94 Cf)e ISttile mottxint of ^rager. 

I 



what we shall be." I shall not attempt 
to raise the veil that was not lifted for the 
Beloved Disciple, but will consider one 
other relationship, or perhaps we might say, 
an extension of sonship. 

In His High Priest's prayer in the pres- 
ence of the eleven and for them and those 
who should believe through their word, 
Christ must have prayed for the highest 
attainable blessing and privilege; and this 
is what He prayed: 

" That they may all be one; even as thou, 
Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they 
also may be in us: * * * * That they 
may be one, even as we are one; I in them, 
and thou in me, that they may be perfected 
into one" (John 17:21,22, R. V.); and 
again "That the love wherewith thou 
lovedst me may be in them, and I in 
them." (John 17:26, E. V.) 

After the consideration of these verses 
with those relating to sonship, need we fail 
to understand what it is to ask in His 
name? 



&0ttmg in tf)e iBtame of ffifjrtet 95 



What ! when believers are brought to- 
gether in a bond, a union, so close, so sacred, 
so unalterable as that between the Eternal 
Father and the Eternal Son, a union ex- 
pressed and expressable only as inwrought, 
indwelling, informed; and when with the 
indwelling Christ the disciple has also 
wrought in him the love with which the 
Father has eternally loved the Son, can they, 
can He ask anything of that Father that He 
will not do ? 



VIII. 



OF IMPORTUNATE PRAYER. 

I approach this subject with hesitation, 
and shall speak about it with diffidence, be- 
cause I run counter to the belief of so many 
respecting it, especially in my own denomi- 
nation. (Methodist.) 

I understand that the current of opinion 
is that God withholds answers to prayer, 
that the suppliant may be compelled to per- 
severe in asking; that He requires earnest- 
ness in prayer to be evidenced by impor- 
tunity, and for that reason seems to be un- 
willing to grant what is asked, and that He 
finally yields to such importunity, so as to 
encourage that mode of praying. This view 
is based (1), on the two parables we are 
about to consider; (2), upon the exhortations 
to unceasing prayer (1 Thes. 5:16-18, etc.); 
(3), upon Scripture example, and the 
experience of illustrious Christian saints. 



<©f Emportunate Stager. 97 



This last-mentioned evidence of the correct- 
ness of this view may be disposed of in a 
few words. We have the record of Daniel's 
three weeks of prayer, and Daniel was 
named by God's messenger as one " greatly 
beloved, ' ' but this same messenger also said 
to Daniel: " For from the first day that 
thou didst set thine heart to understand, and 
to humble thyself before thy God, thy 
words were heard: and I am come for thy 
words' sake." (Dan. 10:12.) 

We are told that many dear children of 
God have spent many consecutive hours, or 
even days, in an agony of prayer for some 
specific thing, and during all this weary 
time the heavens have seemed as brass, and 
God has seemed to be deaf to their entreat- 
ies: but at last they have been gloriously 
answered. Was this waiting and this agony 
needed ? If so, why ? Is it because God 
has so ordered? or is it not rather because 
false conceptions have kept these children 
of God from taking what the father-heart 
was anxious to bestow ? Earnestness is in- 



98 Ef)e IStble Boctune of Stager* 



deed a prerequisite to prevailing prayer, 
but what is required is that the suppliant be 
as earnest in accepting a supply for his 
needs as in feeling the needs and in asking 
for such supply. 

But I am aware that a surface view of the 
parables of the importunate friend and the 
unjust judge seems to support the common 
view, and that the view I have presented 
will not be accepted without adequate ex- 
planation of these parables. Let us pro- 
ceed, then, to their consideration. 

I append to the text of each of these par- 
ables the verses that follow, as greatly aid- 
ing us to a right interpretation of the 
parables : 

" And he said unto them, Which of you 
shall have a friend, and shall go unto him 
at midnight and say to him, Friend, lend 
me three loaves; for a friend of mine is come 
to me from a journey, and I have nothing to 
set before him; and he from within shall 
answer and say, Trouble me not; the door 
is now shut, and my children are with me 



©f Importunate Eraser. 99 



in bed; I cannot rise and give thee ? I say 
unto you, Though he will not rise and give 
him, because he is his friend, yet because of 
his importunity he will arise and give him 
as many as he needeth. And I say unto 
you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, 
and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be 
opened unto you. For every one that ask- 
eth receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; 
and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 
And of which of you that is a father shall 
his son ask a loaf, and he give him a stone ? 
or a fish, and he for a fish give him a ser- 
pent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he 
give him a scorpion ? If ye then, being evil, 
know how to give good gifts unto your 
children, how much more shall your hea- 
venly Father give the Holy Spirit to them 
that ask him?" (Luke 11:5-13; see also 
Matt. 7:7-11.) 

"And he spake a parable unto them 
to the end that they ought always to pray, 
and not to faint: saying, There was in 
a city a judge, which feared not God, and 



100 W$t IStfile Buttmt of Stager* 



regarded not man: and there was a widow 
in that city; aud she came oft unto him, 
saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. 
And he would not for a while: but after- 
ward he said within himself, Though I fear 
not God, nor regard man; yet because this 
widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest 
she wear me out by her continual coming. 
And the Lord said, Hear what the unright- 
eous judge saith. And shall not God 
avenge his elect, which cry to him day and 
night, and he is long-suffering over them? 
I say unto you, that he will avenge them 
speedily. Howbeit when the Son of man 
cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" 
(Luke 18:1, 8.) 

I have placed the two parables together, 
because they are usually so coupled; but to my 
mind they require very different treat- 
ment. 

In the consideration of the first we hardly 
know which is the more despicable — the 
brutal selfishness which impels the one to 
refuse, or the shameless persistency of the 



©f Importunate draper* 101 

other. Let us carefully note the circum- 
stances: First, the need, while doubtless 
great, is not imperative. The friend, come 
from a journey, might be uncomfortable, 
if compelled to go supperless to bed, but 
there is no intimation that he was near the 
verge of starvation; and he might well 
wait until morning, and should be satisfied 
that his friend had done all that hospitality 
demanded, although he should return empty- 
handed. We would naturally think that so 
absolute a refusal would have shut out the 
possibility of even one repetition of the re- 
quest, but, on the contrary, we are told 
that the boon is granted because of his 
importunity, literally " shamelessness," for 
such is the force of the original. 

But even more strange is the churlishness 
of the refusal. The excuse is a very weak 
one. Some have attempted to explain it 
by supposing that the refusal was based 
upon the fear that a thief or robber was 
simulating the voice of a friend, that he 
might effect an entrance into the house, but 



102 W^z iSt'file ©octrme of Irager. 



there is not a hint of such fear in the narra- 
tive. The fact is that the refusal resulted 
from a petty selfishness that rather staggers 
our belief that he could be a friend to any- 
one save self. 

It goes without saying that this cannot 
be a picture of any possible relationship be- 
tween God and His believing child. No 
one would think for a moment that our 
Father could even seem to treat prayer 
in such a churlish spirit, and almost equally 
impossible would be such shameless impor- 
tunity. What, then, is the lesson of the 
parable? It seems to me that it is a parable 
not of likeness, but of contrast. The key 
to it lies in the verses that follow. Like 
them, it reasons from the worse to the bet- 
ter. If the shameless importunity of the 
midnight knocker prevailed with his selfish 
and churlish neighbor, so much that he 
arose and gave what was requested, how 
much more will the reverent, humble, and 
believing prayer of a child of God prevail 
with a loving and gracious Father. Yet it 



©f Importunate Eraser, 103 



is well to repeat that perseverance and 
earnestness are essential to prevailing prayer, 
but not a mere earnestness in the use of 
words, not a perseverance in repetition. 
"Use not vain repetition," said Christ, 
"for you shall not be heard for your much 
speaking," as the Gentiles think they will 
be. The earnestness demanded is an earnest 
sense of need and an earnest desire to sup- 
ply that need from the only source of sup- 
ply, and the perseverance, or rather persist- 
ence, required is that of a firm, tenacious, 
and immovable faith. 

The verses that follow this parable 
(verses 9-13) are almost identical with 
Matt. 7 :7-ll, which, as is well known, form 
part of the Sermon on the Mount. Now 
that same sermon contains the warning I 
have mentioned against vain repetitions, 
and gives this reason, " for your Father 
knoweth what things ye have need of, 
before ye ask him" (Matt. 6:8). These 
things He stands ready to bestow the instant 
we are prepared to receive them. It is not 



104 €f)e iStfile Boctrhte of draper* 



prayer that will prepare us, but the prepara- 
tion must precede the prayer which is the 
expression of it. Our Father desires to be- 
stow the largest gifts and most exalted 
blessings, but they can be granted only 
to those fit to receive and retain them. We 
must be in a high state of holiness to realize 
the condition of abiding in Christ, and hav- 
ing His truth abiding in us; but when that 
condition is attained, we may ask what we 
will with the complete assurance that it (not 
something else) is God's will, that He knows 
our need of it, and will bestow it upon 
us in such way and at such time as will be 
for our highest good. Having received 
this assurance, would it not be an insult to 
return with a repetition of the request? Is 
God a man, that He should forget ? Is He 
unfaithful ? Have His resources failed ? 

We come now to the consideration of the 
second of these parables — that of the unjust 
judge. 

We are met at the outset by the declara- 
tion of the evangelist as to what the Master 



<©{ Importunate $rager* 105 



intended to teach. Such a statement is 
so unusual, that we are bound to seek 
for the reason of its introduction here. 
Why are we not left, as in most other 
instances, to interpret the parable and dis- 
cover its lesson or lessons ? Obviously be- 
cause the picture left unexplained might 
mislead. Having this authoritative inter- 
pretation we are shut up to it and clearly 
have no right to add to or subtract from that 
interpretation. It is to teach us that we 
" ought always to pray, and not to faint." 
The joining together here of the affirmative 
and negative is significant. Not only does 
this parable show why believers should 
pray, but also that they should not faint. 
The word here rendered " faint" means 
an utter giving out, caving in, pointing to 
complete discouragement. Now what could 
produce such discouragement as to prayer but 
failure to receive the answer? and, clearly, this 
agrees with the picture. We should expect 
the widow to be discouraged by the absolute 
refusal of the judge to grant her the meas- 



106 Cjje IStfile mocttint of Meager* 



ure of justice she sought, especially as she 
knew his character, but whether she knew 
it or not, it was these precise defects of 
character in the judge, coupled with her 
persistency, that were to win her case. If 
the judge had cared for his reputation, hav- 
ing once decided against her, he would have 
adhered to his decision, and refused to 
yield to an importunity which had even be 
come railing (so rendered by Tyndale), or 
" brow-beating " (which seems to be the 
force of the original). But because of his 
indolence, selfishness, lack of conscience, 
and carelessness about reputation, he does 
yield and grant the justice prayed for. 
Thus the ' < judge of unrighteousness. 5 ' How 
about the ever righteous Judge ? His dearly 
beloved, the elect, are crying out to Him 
day and night for justice against their 
adversary; and if this justice is delayed^ will 
they not come to think it is denied, and be- 
come utterly discouraged, and cease to pray ? 
Now what is the meaning of the parable ? 
It seems very clear to me that it teaches 



©f importunate Eraser. 107 



that for at least one specific thing believers 
are to pray continuously; that the answer to 
this prayer will be so long delayed that they 
will be in danger of becoming completely 
discouraged respecting it. What are we 
thus to pray for ? The answer is to be 
found in the context and in the surrounding 
circumstances. This is evidently part of 
the discourse commencing with verse twenty 
of the preceding chapter. Jesus has 
answered the question of the Pharisees 
respecting the time of the coming kingdom, 
and follows out the thought suggested there- 
by in a talk to the disciples in regard to 
last things. He briefly outlines some of the 
tremendous events of that time. He dwells 
upon the thought of its unexpectedness 
and of the lack of preparation for it which 
will then be made manifest. Men would 
cease to look for it, because they would 
cease to desire it. Ceasing to desire, they 
would become careless as to the require- 
ments to meet it. They would be surprised 
at its suddenness, and no less surprised to 



108 Cfje iSftle Boctruie nf Ira^r. 



find themselves unfitted for it. Yet it must 
be delayed, that God might work out His 
gracious purposes in the world; and the 
apathy of the church on this subject would 
lengthen out the period of waiting. Noth- 
ing will keep the church pure, nothing will 
maintain the standard of efficiency but a 
consciousness of the presence of Christ, 
(cf. 2 Pet. 3:11.) The work of the Holy 
Spirit in the church is to keep alive this 
consciousness. Let the Holy Spirit be ad- 
mitted to our hearts to do its office work, 
and Christ will seem to be as much with us 
as if His bodily form was within the reach 
of our physical vision, and there will be a 
constant expectation and desire that He may 
return to earth in bodily form. This 
state of expectation was in the early 
church. The apostles and their immediate 
followers seem to have remained gazing up 
into heaven as they did on the Mount of 
Ascension, as if they looked each moment 
to see the cloud part to reveal their descend- 
ing Lord. The result of such constant ex- 



©f Importunate ^rager. 109 



pectation was that He seemed ever near to 
them. He was just beyond that dome of 
blue that arched above them. They might 
at any moment hear His voice as they had 
heard the Father's voice on more than one 
occasion "from the excellent glory;" 
hence they were constantly saying, " The 
Lord is at hand," "The end of all things 
is at hand," and such like things. 

With this consciousness of His nearness, 
and their belief in the imminence of His 
coming, there must have been a constant 
growth in them of all the heavenly vir- 
tues. Their zeal would be intensified, and 
their efforts become untiring to advance 
the coming of that kingdom which was to 
bring with it all glorious consummations. 

These early disciples felt that they were 
citizens of another country; that in this 
world they were not only aliens, but stran- 
gers among a hostile people. "The world 
hateth them, because they are not of the 
world," Christ had said; and so long as 
they retained the consciousness that they 



no Cije iStfile Bcttxint of Irager. 



were not of the world, just so long would 
they be conscious of the world's hatred. 
It would be their adversary against whom 
they would cry to the Judge to be avenged. 
Against their other adversary, the devil, 
would they also beseech judgment. The 
Judge will seem to be slack concerning his 
promise, " as some count slackness," for 
He must be long-suffering, "not wishing 
that any should perish. " (II. Pet. 3:9.) 

Here comes in the peril to which the 
church is subjected, because of this delay. 
Men will go about saying: " Where is the 
promise of his coming ? for, from the day 
that the fathers fell asleep, all things con- 
tinue as they were from the beginning of the 
creation. " (II. Pet. 3:4, R.V.) The church 
will listen, will begin to doubt, will grow 
apathetic on the subject, will begin to com- 
promise with its adversary, the world, and 
the end will be an abandonment of that 
loyalty to the unseen King and His unseen 
kingdom, which is the one essential foun- 
dation of religious life and character. How 



©f Smportimate ^raget, m 



can the consummation of the work of 
the kingdom be so long delayed, as it 
must be, and believers be saved from 
this deadly peril? First, they must be 
deeply impressed with the fact that the end 
will come suddenly, unexpectedly, with no 
herald of its approach, no certain sign by 
which its advent can be predicted; and 
second, by teaching that prayer for its com- 
ing is to be constant, and, lest it become 
formal, or mere vain repetition, importun- 
ate and urgent. Hence, in the form of 
prayer which Jesus taught His disciples, 
and which is evidently a form for daily use, 
we find the petition, u Thy kingdom come." 

Array a troop along a picket line, and 
pass the word along the line that their 
officers are in momentary expectation of an 
attack from the enemy, and there will be 
little danger that any sentinel will sleep on 
his post. But in the conduct of a cam- 
paign this expedient to secure vigilance 
could not often be resorted to, yet vigilance 
is essential to the safety of the army and 



112 &f)e IStfile Utoctnne of $rager. 



the success of the cause which it supports. 
This is secured by the practice of sending a 
superior officer from post to post to observe 
the conduct of the sentinels. He comes 
silently. He may come at any hour of the 
night; and woe to the sentry who allows 
himself to be surprised or found off his 
guard in the presence of the enemy by the 
" grand rounds." The penalty can not be 
less than death. 

Something like this expedient is that pro- 
vision of the government of Christ's king- 
dom which seeks to keep alive an expecta- 
tion of the speedy coming of our Lord. 

I humbly submit that this conception of 
the meaning of this parable seems much 
more in harmony with the other teachings 
of the Word about prayer, than the com- 
mon one that it was our Lord's intention 
to teach, that we are to importune, to 
" agonize " for the blessings and mercies 
we are in need of. What supports the lat- 
ter view? First, we find it commonly 
rests, not so much upon the authority of the 



©f Importunate Irager 113 



Word, as upon the examples of eminent 
saints. 

We are cited to a very numerous array 
of saintly men and women, who have ob- 
tained great blessings, and enjoyed won- 
drous gifts as the (apparent) results of long 
seasons of importunate and agonizing 
prayer. They have testified to great bur- 
dens of soul, from which they found no 
relief until after such exercise of prayer- 
making. We will not question their saint- 
liness or their sincerity, but how about the 
simplicity of faith? Where in the Bible do 
we find any suggestion that importunity is 
needed to move God to answer, unless in 
the parables we are considering ? and we 
see that they are clearly susceptible of an- 
other interpretation. 

The second refuge of the advocate of im- 
portunate prayer is Paul's exhortation: 
" Rejoice alway; pray without ceasing; in 
everything give thanks; for this is the will 
of God in Christ Jesus to you-ward." (I. 
Thes. 5:16-19, R. V.) 



114 die iSrtle mottxint of Iraget. 



Now I am quite willing to take this verse 
as literally as may be demanded. I believe 
it to be the will of God that I should have 
something each moment to rejoice in; also 
that each conscious moment I should have 
something to pray for, and that in every- 
thing that comes to me I can find something 
to thank Him for. Who can count his 
needs ? Some of the needs are constantly 
recurring; others are new, and even these 
are very frequent. Of many we are only 
dimly conscious, or not conscious at all, 
until God reveals them to us. "Your 
Father knoweth what things ye have need of, 
before ye ask him." (Matt. 6:8.) Many of 
these He will supply in the course of His 
general providence. " For he maketh his 
sun to rise on the evil and the good, and 
sendeth rain on the just and the unjust" 
(Matt. 5:45, E.V. ) ; but the deeper needs of 
our being He will not, can not, may we say, 
supply until we ask. We must have the 
consciousness of need, the soul-hunger, 
before we can be blessed and fed. What 



<©f importunate ^rager. 115 



avails it to force food upon one who is not 
hungry? It will only intensify his dislike 
and disgust. 

Now let a believer become hungry for 
the things of God, and so many needs will 
come pressing in upon him, that he will 
not have time to ask again and again for 
the supply of one. He will just take each 
proffered blessing, and ask for and receive 
more. Needs will present themselves as 
boundless as the supply, and that is in- 
finite. u In nothing be anxious; but in 
everything by prayer and supplication with 
thanksgiving, let your requests be made 
known unto God." (Phil. 4:6, R.V.) "And 
my God shall fulfill every need of yours 
according to his riches in glory in Christ 
Jesus." (Phil. 4:19, R.V.) 

O! that we might realize what our priv- 
ilege is, what boundless capabilities and 
possibilities are ours, if we would but 
accept, if we would but be and achieve 
what it is God's will we should be and do; 
then would we " pray without ceasing," 



116 Cije Affile Bntxint of Stager, 



and in everything make our requests known 
to God for supplies for ever-recurring and 
ever-growing needs; and with this unceas- 
ing prayer for such supplies would be ever 
mingled the petition : £ ' Thy kingdom 
come, thy will be done as in heaven so on 
earth." 

Our hearts, our minds, our souls would 
be in a state of blissful anticipation of, and 
earnest longing for that glorious consum- 
mation, and we would be earnestly prose- 
cuting the work of the kingdom, the work 
which we are set to do, " while it is yet 
day." "Howbeit when the Son of man 
cometh, shall he find faith (this faith) on 
the earth? " (Luke 18:8.) 



NOTE. 



Believers in the necessity of importunate prayer 
point triumphantly to the incident of Jesus' inter- 
view with the Syro-Phenecian woman as proof most 
conclusive that importunity (by which many mean but 
little more than persistent repetition) is an almost indis- 
pensable condition of prevailing prayer. 

The employment of this incident in support of such 
a doctrine compels us to attach to the conduct of Jesus 
on that occasion a meaning irreconcilable with such a 
character as he is generally admitted to have possessed, 
A belief that Jesus feigned a refusal while all along 
intending to grant the request, seems utterly incon- 
sistent with the transparent sincerity of that character. 
Could He, who is "the truth," act a lie even for the 
loftiest purpose or the attainment of the most important 
end? If acting a lie seems too harsh a characterization 
of such conduct as is attributed to Him, still it seems 
impossible to believe that He, of all men, would be 
capable of seeming to act contrary to His inclination and 
purpose. 

What, then, is the true explanation of the incident, 
and what lessons may we learn from it? 

No explanation removes all the difficulties of an inci- 
dent in which our Lord's conduct is seemingly so much 
at variance with his usual course. A careful survey of 
the circumstances seems, however, to point to some con- 
clusions that are well-nigh irresistible. The woman was 
a heathen; a Ganaanite; that race most abhorred by the 
Jews. She was not yet lifted above the Dead Sea level 
of heathenism. To her Jesus was a wonder worker; 



118 Cf)e iStfile Butxint of Icager. 



endowed in some way with supernatural powers; in 
some poor unenlightened way she knew that the Jews 
were expecting the advent of a mighty deliverer, and 
she had evidently caught the echo of the rising belief 
in Galilee that Jesus was the Messiah. To her heathen- 
ish conception a God was a Being whose favor could 
only be won by persistent importunate repetition of 
prayers, (cf. Matt. 6:7.) Heathen prayers then as 
now often became frantic to the point of delirium, and 
are often accompanied by self-inflicted torture in proof 
of the sincerity and earnestness of the suppliant, (cf. 1 
Kings 18:28.) With such conceptions in her mind no 
wonder that she was persistent in the face of most dis- 
couraging circumstances. But, however unenlight- 
ened, it is clear hers was an humble religious heart, 
and her maternal heart was so filled with unselfish love 
for her daughter that she made the case her own and 
was, for her sake, willing to take the position of an 
outcast, and to accept as belonging to her an appellation 
expressive of the uttermost contempt. A mother's 
invincible and irrepressible love sent her by one leap 
to the very core of Christianity, viz., complete self- 
abnegation; a vicarious surrender of self for the sake of 
good to be won for another. 

The attitude of Jesus presents greater difficulties, but 
is not, however, incapable of reasonable explanation. 
That to the human consciousness of Jesus there was a 
gradual unfolding of the character and extent of His 
mission must be apparent to every careful student of the 
New Testament. ' ' The dawning sense of the unique 
relation in which he stood to God comes out in his boy- 
hood in the words addressed to his mother when he was 
found with the doctors in the temple," (Fisher's Nature 
and Method of Revelation, 82,) and the whole tenor of 



119 



the Gospel narrative makes it evident that this sense of 
oneness with the Father gradually developed into the 
conviction that He alone, in His divine -human nature, 
was the complete and only manifestation of God to 
mankind. It is no less apparent, however, that this 
conviction was not reached in the early days of His min- 
istry. So with His mission. While from the first He 
looked upon the whole world as the Harvest from which 
should be gathered the sheaves for the Kingdom, it is 
beyond question that He considered that His personal 
work must be confined to the recovery of the " Lost 
sheep of the House of Israel." " Other sheep " He had 
who would hear His voice and by and by these would 
be " one flock," (See R. Y.) but now He was the Shep- 
herd of the Jewish Fold. From this point of view He 
was fully justified in closing His ears to the entreaties 
of even this stricken mother. If it be insisted that the 
refusal to hear was unjustifiably cruel, let it be remem- 
bered that " God's ways are not as our ways" and that 
His dealings with His creatures often present a surface 
aspect of cruelty until our horizon widens, when we 
are permitted to look out upon the Universe of God 
from the place where He dwells. 

Another thought (for which, in extenso, see Geikie's 
The Life of Christ, Chap. 45,) which adds to the above 
explanation, has relation to the attitude of the Twelve. 
In estimating the conduct of Jesus on any occasion we 
must never overlook the very important consideration 
that much of His earthly work consisted of the teaching 
and training of these very narrow and bigoted and some- 
what stupid pupils. Upon this foundation of the Apos- 
tles, Himself the corner stone, was the future Church to 
be built. Foundation building is the most important 
work in which God or man can engage. Well may 



120 Efte ISftle Buttint of ^rager. 



even the importunate demands of love be ignored rather 
than do harm to this growing foundation. Nothing 
had yet been done to remove from the minds of the 
Twelve a whit of their harsh Jewish prejudice. "That 
a foreigner, and above all, a Canaanite, accursed of 
God, should share His mercies, was as yet far too liberal 
a conception for them." * * * "The answer of Jesus 
seemed to favor this bitter exclusiveness. ' He was not 
sent except to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.' 
They little knew that His help was kept back only in 
pity for His own nation, whom mercy to abhorred un- 
clean Canaan ites would embitter against Him to their 
own destruction." (So Geikie.) May we not add, 
carrying out the thought with which we have set out, 
that His help was kept back for fear that His work 
of foundation building might be marred. 

Well was it for them; well for the Master's work; 
well for the world; well for us that a mother's love 
could not thus be baffled; that somehow there had been 
born in her heart "an irrepressible trust in Him 
whose face and tone so contradicted His words." 
(Geikie.) The harsh appellation of "dog" is sweet- 
ened into an expression of the tenderest love and pity 
by its humble acceptance, and the plea for the 
" crumbs", which would suffice for her needs, became 
thereby resistless. So she comes down to us in history 
as one of only two possessed of a faith worthy of special 
commendation. To the Twelve she taught the lesson, 
to be fully accepted only after lapse of many years and 
much trial of utter rejection by their brethren after the 
flesh, that heathen dogs, filled with the Divine Spirit of 
self-renunciation for others' good, were Abraham's true 
seed that is to be counted as the stars of heaven. To us 
comes the lesson that it is not importunity which in- 



121 



sures an answer, but rather complete self-abasement and 
humility accompanied by such a sense of need as leaves 
the heart wholly empty for receipt of the Divine gift. 
These appeal with irresistible force to the Father's 
heart and do indeed know no denial. 

The above explanation of the conduct of Jesus is 
fully in accord with the views of Dr. Edersheim in 
his admirable work entitled 44 The Life and Times of 
Jesus the Messiah." 

This view is also supported in whole or in part by 
other eminent authorities, among whom may be cited 
Dr. Bruce in 4 4 The Miraculous Elements of the Gos- 
pels;" Dr. Schaff and Prof. Riddle in 44 The Interna- 
tional Illustrated Commentary;" Jamieson, Fausette 
and Brown in exposition of Mark 7 : 24-30. (The latter, 
it is true, see a double reason for Christ's silence ; the 
second being the purpose to 11 try and whet her faith," 
etc. They, however, see plainly that this work of 
mercy was 44 beyond His strict commission," and this 
view is not inconsistent with that here expressed. The 
silence and harshness did bring out, perhaps 4 4 whet" 
her faith, patience and perseverance, and this would be 
the result whether Jesus was or was not willing at the out- 
set to grant her request.) So also Bengel ( 4 'Gnomon 
of the New Testament") who seems to hold to the double 
reason, although he is not very clear. 

Dean Chadwick, in his exposition of Mark 7 : 24-30, 
published as a volume in 4 'The Expositor's Bible," says: 

4 4 Even the great champion and apostle of the Gen- 
tiles confessed that his Lord was a minister of the cir- 
cumcision by the grace of God." * * * 44 Also it 
must be considered that nothing could more offend His 
countrymen than to grant her prayer." He thinks the 
disciples in their request that she be sent away, were 



122 Cfje iStile JBoctrme of Iraper. 



interceding for her and adds: " But Jesus was occupied 
with His mission and unwilling to go farther than He 
was sent." 

We need not expect unanimity among learned ex- 
positors in their explanation of this incident. It must 
be admitted that many who are entitled to rank with 
those herein referred to take quite contrary views to 
those here expressed; although few, if any, suggest 
that the unwillingness of Jesus was feigned. It seems, 
however, impossible to explain His conduct without 
admitting either a real or pretended unwillingness. If 
the former, what other explanation is needed than His 
own words respecting His mission? 



